FIGHTING FOR 
THE EMPIRE 




LIBRARY OF^ONGRESS. 

Chap Copyright iVo. 

»SlieIt . 
jKe 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
in 2010 witii funding from 
Tine Library of Congress 



littp://www.arcliive.org/details/figlitingforempirOOotis 



FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE 




GENERAL CRONJE'S SURRENDER TO LORD ROBERTS AT PAARDE- 

BERG. 



FIGHTING FOR THE 
EMPIRE 

mjz Storg of tfje mux in Sautfj Africa 



BY 



JAMES OTIS ^ttJ^-^ 



AUTHOR OF 

"TOBY TYLER," "JENNY WREN's BOARDING HOUSE," 

"THE BOYS OF FORT SCHUYLER," ETC. 



CllustrateH iig 
FRANK T. MERRILL 

And other well-knoivn Artists 




BOSTON 
DANA ESTES & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



70908 

I — . 

I ' VI - LOnti KtCl.^ED 

NOV 5 1900 

» Copyright entry 

SECOND copy, 

Delivered to 

ORDtR DIVISION, 

r'OV 24 1900 



Copyright, igoo 
By Dana Estes & Company 






CToIonial IBresa 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 

Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction xi 

I. At Cape Town ii 

II. October Newspaper Bulletins ... 19 

III. Glencoe, Dundee, and Elandslaagte . 29 

IV. Nicholson's Nek Disaster .... 43 
V. November Newspaper Bulletins ... 48 

VI. Capture of the Armoured Train . . 61 

VII. November Newspaper Bulletins . . 65 

VIII. Methuen's Advance toward Kimberley . tj 

IX. December News Items ^s 

X. Stormberg Junction 96 

XL The Battle of Magersfontein . . . 105 

Xll. The Battle of Colenso . . . .112 

XIII. In January 121 

XIV. Operations around Colesberg . . .136 
XV. Cesar's Camp and Wagon Hill . . . 147 

XVI. Spion Kop Campaign 154 

XVII. February Bulletins 180 

XVIII. Lord Roberts's Advance .... 201 

XIX. Vaal Krantz 218 

XX. Lord Roberts 227 

XXI. Kimberley 237 

XXII. How French Reached Kimberley . . 249 

XXIII. Pursuit and Capture of Cronje . . . 253 

vii 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

XXIV. Buller's Fourth Advance toward Lady- 
smith 272 

XXV. Ladysmith .281 

XXVI. The Work in March .... 297 

XXVII. Overtures for Peace .... 322 

XXVIII. The Battle of Poplar Grove . . 328 

XXIX. The Battle of Driefontein . . . 334 

XXX. Occupation of Bloemfontein . . . 337 

XXXI. General Joubert 341 

XXXII. The Disaster at S annas Post . . 346 

XXXIII. April News 351 

XXXIV. Reddersburg 368 

XXXV. April News Continued .... 372 

XXXVI. Advancing Northward .... 391 

XXXVII. Mafeking 404 

XXXVIII. In June 429 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

General Cronje Surrenders to Lord Roberts at 

Paardeberg ...... Frontispiece 

Map of South Africa Sub-frontispiece 

Portrait of Lord Kitchener of Khartoum . . 20 
The Charge of the Imperial Light Horse at 

Elandslaagte 38 

Portrait of Lord Roberts 46 

Boer Sharpshooters Attacking an Armoured Train 

NEAR ChIEVELEY ....... 6i 

Portrait of the Hon. Joseph Chamberlain . . 90 
British Soldiers Trying to Save the Field Guns 

AT Colenso 118 

Portrait of Gen. Sir Redvers H. Buller . . 132 

British Troops Ascending Spion Kop at Night . 157 

Portrait of General Joubert 205 

Relief of Ladysmith. The Advance Guard Enter- 
ing the Town 293 

Portrait of Lieutenant -General Lord Methuen . 325 
Annexation Ceremony. Raising the Flag at Bloem- 

fontein 340 

Portrait of Lieutenant- General Sir George White 390 

In the Trenches at Mafeking 408 

Portrait of President Kruger . . . . .432 



INTRODUCTION. 

If one turns the leaves of this book simply for the 
purpose of learning when some particular battle was 
fought, or how a certain body of troops behaved under 
trying circumstances, then there is no good reason why 
this introduction should be given a passing glance. 

That which follows is set down in order that the 
reader who seeks to learn the cause of the effect may 
not be disappointed, and to such end is given in fewest 
words possible an outline of the events which led up 
to the war of 1899-1900 in South Africa. 

First as to how and why the two republics — the 
Orange Free State and the Transvaal, or the South 
African Republic — are situated very nearly inside that 
portion of the continent claimed by Great Britain. 

On the loth day of January, 1806, that portion of 
Africa known as Cape Colony capitulated to the British 
forces. It belonged to the Netherlands ; but when 
Louis Napoleon was made King of the Netherlands, 
England, being then at war with France, made an 
attack upon it, with the result as above stated. In the 
year 18 14, by a convention between Great Britain and 
the Netherlands, and in consideration of the sum of 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

thirty million dollars paid by the first-named country, 
Cape Colony, together with those colonies now forming 
British Guiana, was formally ceded to England. 

The Dutch inhabitants were restive under the British 
rule ; believed that they were unjustly dealt with, par- 
ticularly by the emancipation of their slaves, and in 1836 
and 1837 eight thousand or more farmers emigrated 
from Cape Colony northward, founding a republic 
amid the natives. 

This movement is known as the " Grand Trek," and 
the sturdy Dutchmen fought the blacks, at the same 
time tilling the land, to such purpose that in 1852 the 
independence of the Transvaal Boers was recognised 
by Great Britain, 

Prof. Keith Johnston thus explains how these two 
republics sprang into existence : 

"In 1834 the great measure of slave emancipation 
took effect in Cape Colony. It has been of immense 
service in raising the character and condition of the 
Hottentots and other races before held in bondage, 
though many of the vices begotten by the state of 
slavery still adhere to them. This measure gave great 
offence to the Dutch Boers of the colony, and com- 
pleted their already existing disaffection to the British 
rule. 

"In 1835-1836 a large number of these people 
resolved to free themselves from the British govern- 
ment by removing, with their families, beyond the limits 
of the colony. With this object they sold their farms, 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

mostly at a great sacrifice, and crossed the Orange 
River into territories inhabited chiefly by tribes of the 
Kaffir race. After meeting with great hardships and 
varied success in their contests with the natives, a part 
of their number, under one Peter Retief, crossed the 
Drakenberg Mountains and took possession of the dis- 
trict of Natal, where they established a republican 
government, and maintained the ground against power- 
ful nations of Zulu Kaffirs till 1842, when they were 
forced to yield to the authority of the British govern- 
ment, which took possession of Natal. 

" The Boers beyond the Orange River and west 
of the Drakenberg still, however, retained a sort of 
independence till 1848, when, in consequence of the 
lawless state of the country, and the solicitation of 
part of the inhabitants, the governor, Sir Harry Smith, 
declared the supremacy of the crown over the terri- 
tory, which was thenceforth called the Orange River 
Sovereignty. Shortly after this, in consequence, it 
was alleged, of certain acts of the British govern- 
ment in Natal, Andrew Pretorious, an intelligent 
Boer of that district, crossed the Drakenberg Moun- 
tains, with his followers, and, after being joined on 
the western side by large numbers of disaffected 
Boers, raised the standard of rebellion. Upon this 
the governor. Sir Harry Smith, crossed the Orange 
River at the head of a detachment of troops, and 
encountered and defeated the rebels in a short but 
brilliant skirmish at Boem Plaats. After this, Pre- 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

torious and the most disaffected part of the Boers 
retreated to beyond the Vaal River (the northern 
hmit of the sovereignty), where they established a 
government of their own. They were subsequently, 
in 1852, absolved from their allegiance to the British 
Crown by treaty with the governors and her Majesty's 
commissioners for settling frontier affairs, 

"In 1853-54, in consequence of the troubled state 
of the Orange River Sovereignty, and the difficulty of 
maintaining with becoming dignity the authority of 
her Majesty there, it was resolved to abandon the 
country to the settlers, mostly Dutch Boers. This 
was carried into effect by a special commissioner. 
Sir George Clerk, sent from England for the purpose ; 
and the country, under the name of the Orange Free 
State, was constituted a republic, with a president 
at its head, assisted or controlled by an assembly 
called the volksraad (people's council), elected by 
nearly universal suffrage." 

Professor A. H. Keane, in an article on the Trans- 
vaal, writes : 

" The historic life of the Transvaal begins with the 
* Great Trek,' or general exodus of the Cape Colony 
Boers, who, being dissatisfied, especially with the 
liberal pohcy of the British government toward the 
natives, removed northwards in large numbers be- 
tween the years 1833 and 1837. By 1836 some thou- 
sands had already crossed the Vaal, that is, had 
reached the 'Trans-Vaal' country, which at that time 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

was mostly under the sway of the powerful refugee 
Zulu chief Moselekatze, whose principal kraal was 
at Mosega in the present Marico district, on the west 
frontier. To avenge the massacre of some emigrant 
bands, the Boers, under Maritz and Potgieter, attacked 
and utterly defeated Moselekatze at this place in 1837. 
Next year the Zulu chief withdrew beyond the Lim- 
popo, where he founded the Matebele state between 
that river and the Zambesi, thus leaving the region 
between the Vaal and Limpopo virtually in the hands 
of the Trekkers. But their position was rendered in- 
secure on the east side by the military despotism of 
the fierce Zulu chief, Dingaan, who, after the murder 
of his brother Chaka, had asserted his authority over 
the whole of Zululand and most of Natal. The situa- 
tion was rendered almost desperate by the complete 
rout and wholesale massacre (1838) of the right divi- 
sion of the emigrant Boers, who had ventured to cross 
the Buffalo under Peter Retief, and who were de- 
feated by Dingaan, first at Umkongloof, then at 
Weenen, and again soon after, under Uys, Maritz, and 
Potgieter, when as many as eight hundred fell before 
the irresistible onslaught of the disciplined warriors. 
At this critical juncture the Trekkers were saved from 
utter extermination by Andries Pretorious, of Graaf 
Reinet, by whom Dingaan met with a first check 
before the close of 1838, followed in January, 1840, 
by a still more crushing defeat. Dingaan having 
been soon after murdered, the friendly Panda was 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

set up in his place, and Natal proclaimed a Boer re- 
public. But the British occupation of that territory 
in 1843 induced the Boers to retire in two bands 
across the Drakenberg, the southern division settling 
in the present Orange Free State, the northern again 
, passing into the Transvaal, But, owing to internal 
dissensions, and the perpetual bickerings of the two 
most prominent personalities, Pretorious and Potgieter, 
all attempts at establishing an organised system of 
government throughout the Transvaal ended in failure, 
till Pretorious induced the British government to sign 
the Sand River convention (January 17, 1852), which 
virtually established the political independence of that 
region. The death of both Pretorious and Potgieter, 
in 1853, prepared the way for a period of internal 
peace under Pretorious's eldest son, Marthinus Wes- 
sels Pretorious, first president of the 'Dutch African 
Republic,' whose title was afterward altered (1858) to 
that of the ' South African Republic' " 

The principal events can be set down thus : 

i8s7. Invasion of the Orange Free State by Pretorious. Dis- 
pute settled without bloodshed by the treaty of June ist. 

iS^g. Pretorious, during whose absence affairs had fallen 
into confusion, has continued trouble with the natives ; quarrels 
with the Batalpins, Barolongs, and Guiquas in the west; in the 
east, with Ketchywayo, King of Zululand, about the Boer's right 
to the Wakkerstrooth and Utrecht districts, 

186"/. Discovery of diamonds, and Mauch's announcement of 
gold-fields in the interior. 



INTRODUCTION. XVll 

1868. Pretorious's proclamation extending the boundaries of 
the state, west to Lake Ngami, east to Delagoa Bay, whence dis- 
putes and negotiations with England and Portugal, Delagoa Bay 
being ultimately awarded (July, 1875), to Portugal by the French 
president, MacMahon, to whose decision the matter had been 
referred. 

i8'/i. Boundary disputes toward the southwest settled by 
the award of Lieutenant-Governor Keate, of Natal, leading to 
the resignation of Pretorious and appointment of President 
Burgers, 

i8ys- The Fundamental Law forces Burgers to measures 
leading to war with Sikokuni, chief of the Bapedi, south of the 
Olifant River, who claimed a large part of Lydenburg and even 
of Pretoria ; Burgers's visit to Europe in connection with the Del- 
agoa Bay Railway scheme ; on his return he finds everything in 
the greatest confusion ; Boers dispirited by repeated reverses 
in the Sikokuni War, an empty treasury, broken credit ; the state 
practically bankrupt and exposed to imminent danger of invasion 
,by Bapedis and Zulus. Hence 

i8j6-j']. Intervention of England, and Sir Theophilus Shep- 
stone's proclamation (April 12, 1877), annexing Transvaal, fol- 
lowed by the appointment of Sir W. Owen Lanyon as British 
administrator. 

J880-81. Revolt of the discontented Boers, who, being suc- 
cessful in a few contests with British troops, induced the British 
government to restore the Republic under the "suzerainty" of 
the queen, by the treaty of peace of March 21, 1881, a British 
resident being appointed, with the functions of a consul-general. 

i88j. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger elected president. 

1884. Convention of London (February 27th, ratified by the 
volksraad, August 8th) recognising the state as the South African 
Republic, and considerably restricting the British suzerainty. 



XVlll INTRODUCTION. 

i88_5. Proclamation (March 23d) of the British protectorate 
over Bechuanaland, thereby arresting the westward advance of 
the Boers. 

1886. Fresh discoveries of gold, especially in the Middlegurn 
province, followed by a great influx of English-speaking people, 
threatening to swamp the Boer element. 

From this time British subjects residing in the South 
African RepubHc had many grievances, chief of which 
was that while they, the "Uitlanders," or "Out- 
landers," paid more than three-quarters of all the 
taxes, they could have no voice in the government, 
even so far as might relate to the ordinar}'- expendi- 
ture of public money. " Taxation without representa- 
tion is tyranny," so the subjects of Great Britain said, 
quoting one of the promoters of the American Revolu- 
tion. There was nothing in the Constitution of the 
Republic which held out any well-grounded hope that 
a Uitlander might become a citizen. Not until af- 
ter a man had amassed a certain amount of property, 
and resided within the limits of the country fourteen 
years, could he apply to the volksraad for permission 
to become a citizen, and even then he had no assur- 
ance his petition would be granted. In 1899 the rev- 
enue amounted to £^,o?>7,2>S2, and of this sum over 
^3,250,000 had been paid by the Uitlanders, who had 
absolutely no voice in public affairs. 

In addition to this were the excessive duties, laxity 
of the liquor laws, the brick and dynamite monopolies, 
which last so increased the cost of mining that no more 



INTRODUCTION. XIX 

than twenty-five mines out of one hundred and eighty- 
three were able to pay a dividend. 

The Pass Law of 1895, the AHens Expulsion Law of 
1896, and the Judges Law of 1897, were all grievances 
which called forth protests from the Uitlanders, but 
which protests passed unheeded. 

Then came the Jameson Raid, after which, to quote 
from Ireland's "Anglo-Boer Conflict," the lot of the 
Uitlanders "became harder and harder, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that President Kruger solemnly promised, 
after Jameson's men had laid down their arms, that he 
would inquire into and redress their grievances. At 
length, on March 24, 1899, a petition signed by 21,648 
Uitlanders was forwarded by the High Commissioner 
to her Majesty, praying that she would intervene to 
secure just treatment for the British Uitlanders. 

"The chief grounds for the petition were stated to 
be : the failure of President Kruger to institute the 
reforms promised after the Jameson Raid ; the con- 
tinuation of the dynamite monopoly and its attendant 
grievances, notwithstanding the fact that a government 
commission, consisting of officials of the Republic, had 
inquired into the matter and suggested many reforms ; 
the subjugation of the High Court to the executive 
authority, and the dismissal of the chief justice for 
his earnest protest against the interference with the 
court's independence ; the selection of none but 
Burghers to sit on juries ; the aggressive attitude of 
the police toward the Uitlanders; the continued out- 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

rages on the persons and property of British subjects; 
taxation without representation, and the withholding of 
educational privileges from the children of Uitlanders. 

"On the 9th of October, 1899, . . . President Kruger, 
through his State Secretary, issued the following ulti- 
matum : ' (a) That all points of mutual difference shall 
be regulated by the friendly course of arbitration or by 
whatever amicable way may be agreed upon by this 
government with her Majesty's government, {b) That 
the troops on the borders shall be instantly withdrawn. 
(c) That all reinforcements of troops which have 
arrived in South Africa since the ist of June, 1899, 
shall be removed from South Africa within a reason- 
able time, to be agreed upon with this government, and 
with a mutual assurance and guarantee on the part of 
this government that no attack upon or hostilities 
against any portion of the possessions of the British 
government shall be made by the Republic during 
further negotiations within a period of time to be 
subsequently agreed upon between the governments ; 
and this government will, on compliance therewith, be 
prepared to withdraw the armed Burghers of this Re- 
public from the borders, {d) That her Majesty's troops 
which are now on the high seas shall not be landed in 
any port in South Africa. 

" ' This government must press for an immediate and 
affirmative answer to these four questions, and earnestly 
requests her Majesty's government to return such an 
answer before or upon Wednesday, the nth of October, 



INTRODUCTION. XXI 

1899, not later than five o'clock p. m. ; and it desires 
further to add that, in the event of, unexpectedly, no 
satisfactory answer being received by it within that 
interval, it will with great regret be compelled to regard 
the action of her Majesty's government as a formal 
declaration of war, and will not hold itself responsible 
for the consequences thereof ; and that, in the event 
of any further movements of troops taking place within 
the above-mentioned time, in the nearer direction of 
our borders, this government will be compelled to 
regard that, also, as a formal declaration of war.' " 

In reply to this ultimatum, Mr. Chamberlain sent the 
following telegram to Sir Alfred Milner, dated October 
10, 1899 : 

" Her Majesty's government have received with 
great regret the peremptory demands of the govern- 
ment of the South African Republic. You will inform 
the government of the South African Republic, in reply, 
that the conditions demanded by the government of 
the South African Republic are such as her Majesty's 
government deem it impossible to discuss." 

Before sunrise on Thursday, the 12th of October, 
1899, the troops of the Republic invaded the British 
Colony of Natal. 



FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE, 



CHAPTER I. 



AT CAPE TOWN. 



"XTT'AR between the South African Republic and 
'^ • Great Britain was really declared on the nth 
of October, 1899, when the troops of the Republic 
began the advance on Natal ; but the formal declaration 
was not made until ten o'clock in the forenoon of the 
I2th. 

The fact that the Boers were bent on assuming the 
offensive came to the citizens of Cape Town as a sur- 
prise, in a certain degree, because it was not generally 
believed that the government of the Republic was fully 
prepared for such a bold movement. They at once 
began to make more careful estimates as to the strength 
of the enemy, methods of transportation, means of pro- 
visioning her Majesty's troops, and the probable "stay- 
ing qualities " of those who counted on preventing the 
English Government from " interfering in the internal 
affairs of the South African Republic." 



12 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

It was difficult to arrive at any reliable estimate re- 
garding the strength of the Boers. The report came 
that General Joubert, Vice-President of the Republic 
and commander-in-chief of the Burghers' army, had 
made the following estimate : 

From the Transvaal, 1 8,000 ; Orange Free State, 
16,000; accessions from British territory, 6,000 ; total, 
40,000. He assumed that the Boer population of the 
Transvaal was 80,000 ; of the Orange Free State, 
78,000; total, 158,000. Allowing that one out of five 
was capable of bearing arms, the maximum available 
fighting force of the two republics would be 3 1,000. 

Mr. Windham, in a speech in the House of Commons, 
stated that in June, 1899, the British Intelligence 
Office estimated that the total number of male Boers in 
the two repubHcs, between the ages of sixteen and 
sixty, was 51,000; likely to join from the colonies, 
4,000; foreigners, 4,000; total, 59,000. 

The lines of transportation operated by steam, which 
might advantage the British forces, were as follows : 
One line of railroad starting from Cape Town, running 
nearly north, skirting the western border of the Orange 
Free State and South African Republic, passing through 
Kimberley and Mafeking and on to Rhodesia, Another 
line starting from Port Elizabeth, about 450 miles east 
from Cape Town, and running in a northwesterly direc- 
tion to De Aar Junction, where it connected with the 
Cape Town road. From Naauwpoort, a station on this 
line about seventy miles southeast of De Aar, a road 



AT CAPE TOWN. 1 3 

ran a little east of north, crossing the Orange River, 
and running through the centre of the Boer republics 
to Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, and Pretoria. Another 
line starting from East London, about 600 miles east 
of Cape Town, and running in a northwesterly direc- 
tion to Springfontein, just across the border, in the 
Orange Free State, where it connected with the line 
from Naauwpoort. From Cape Town it is 750 miles to 
Bloemfontein and 1,040 miles to Pretoria. From 
Port Elizabeth to these towns the distances are about 
300 miles less than from Cape Town. These were the 
only lines by which Boer territories could be reached 
from the south. 

To advance an army division across the country other 
than by railroad is an undertaking of more magnitude 
than the average reader imagines. A single day's 
rations for one regiment weigh about one and one- 
half tons, while a ton of ammunition suffices for a single 
quick-firing field-gun no more than half an hour of con- 
tinuous work. To advance one division of troops, five 
miles of mule and ox train become necessary ; there- 
fore it may readily be understood that, in this war 
about to be waged, much might depend upon the 
possibility of using the railroad as a means of trans- 
porting troops. 

When war was declared, the English Government was 
illy prepared. Sir George White had in Natal about 
1 5,000 men. Along the southern and western borders 
of the Boer republics there were less than 5,000 



14 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

troops, very widely scattered. These included the gar- 
risons of Mafeking and Kimberley. 

Meanwhile the mobilisation of troops began in Eng- 
land. It was then thought that one army corps addi- 
tional would be sufficient, and the total strength of 
regular troops, in South Africa, and under orders to go, 
amounted to 78,500 of all arms, including troops for 
lines of communications, depots, army service corps, 
hospitals, etc. There were available, besides these, the 
colonial contingents, Cape Mounted Rifles, Natal Police, 
local volunteers, and naval brigades from the war-ships 
in South African waters, amounting altogether to about 
20,000. 

The first "war news" received in Cape Town was 
conflicting, as might be expected ; but, after winnowing 
it generously, there was enough of importance remain- 
ing to cause serious apprehensions. 

It was reported from reliable sources that the Natal 
invasion was made in three columns at dawn, October 
1 2th, through Botha's Pass, Laing's Nek, and from 
Wakkerstroem, the objective point of the invaders being 
Newcastle. The Boers utilised several thousand natives, 
who were tramping from the Rand,^ to drive their 
heavy guns up Laing's Nek. 

From Pietermaritzburg and Durban came the word 
that those places were taking vigorous steps for de- 

* The term " Rand," or " Randt," is a contraction of " Witwaters- 
randt," tlie name given to the high ridge of land in the southern part 
of the Transvaal, meaning " White Water Ridge." 



AT CAPE TOWN. 1 5 

fence, in the remote contingency that the enemy might 
ekide the vigilance of the British at the Ladysmith and 
Glencoe camps. 

A despatch from Durban stated that the partial clos- 
ing down of the Natal coal mines would not interrupt 
the supplies for the imperial transport at Durban, as 
had been imagined by the Boers, large quantities of 
coal being already on the water from India. Regular 
shipments were scheduled to arrive from India until the 
Natal mines opened again. 

Another despatch reported activity on the part of the 
Free State commando in the neighbourhood of Aliwal. 

The Boers' advance patrol, so the message ran, went 
to the frontier bridge nightly, to keep watch, firing 
shots at intervals as signals. It was believed the en- 
emy intended to try to rush the railway station, with 
the help of artillery posted on a ridge commanding the 
town. 

The most important festival in the Boer calendar, the 
Nachtmaal, or communion, was being held in Vryburg, 
and word came to Cape Town from the Orange River 
that the telegraph wires had been cut between Vryburg 
and Kimberley, and that the Boers were taking advan- 
tage of the presence of a large gathering of disloyal 
farmers at Vryburg, to attack the town, hoping that 
the farmers would assist them against the British. 
The same despatch stated that the British force at 
Kimberley was confident of its ability to hold out, but 
urged the immediate despatch of a relief force. 



1 6 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The question of a possible rising of the farmers in 
the northern portions of Cape Colony was very impor- 
tant. There was serious disloyalty and much anti- 
British agitation in these districts, while the Free State 
Boers threatened an immediate invasion of Colesberg 
and Aliwal North. 

It was believed that Sir Alfred Milner, the High 
Commissioner of South Africa, was literally being 
worked to death, and the citizens of Cape Town were 
filled with bitter resentment at what they termed the 
Schreiner cabinet's betrayal of Maf eking, by its con- 
tinued refusal to send a volunteer force to its relief. 

Many of the residents had relatives at Vryburg, 
and were angry with Colonial Treasurer Muriman, and 
Commissioner of Public Works Sauer, even going 
so far as to mob these ministers when they appeared 
in public. Mr. Hofmeyer, the Afrikander leader, was 
said to have gone into the country in order to escape 
the outbursts of indignation which were raised against 
him. 

On a certain evening shortly after the declaration of 
war, the streets of Cape Town were filled with angry 
citizens, making threatening demonstrations, and a riot 
seemed imminent. These evidences of public displeas- 
ure, combined with the pressure of the imperial govern- 
ment, brought the Schreiner government to a sense of 
its peril, as well as its duty, and moved it to decide 
to call out the volunteers, a body of seven thousand 
men, with eleven pieces of artillery. 



AT CAPE TOWN. 1 7 

Unauthenticated news from Mafeking aroused the 
people to the highest pitch of excitement, for in 
fact had the war been begun. It was stated that a 
battle had been fought at Mafeking, resulting in the 
killing of three hundred Boers, and eighteen British 
soldiers. 

This startling information had no more than gained 
circulation, when it was reported that Colonel Baden- 
Powell made a sortie in force, attacking the enemy 
who were investing the town. After fierce fighting the 
Boers retreated. While the people speculated as to 
whether one or both of these news items could 
be founded on truth, the following alleged facts were 
bulletined in rapid succession : 

"A cyclist despatch was received from Ottoshoep, 
near Malmani, this evening, asserting that heavy fight- 
ing had been in progress all day, north of Mafeking. 
The British troops on board an armoured train acted 
as a covering for the military engineers engaged in 
repairing the track. A Maxim on the train kept up a 
continuous fire. 

" Conspicuous bravery was displayed on both sides, 
but it soon became apparent that the rifles of the 
Burghers were ineffective against an armoured train. 
The latter, however, was once forced to retreat before 
a particularly strong assault ; but it soon returned, ac- 
companied by a British mounted contingent, and the 
fighting was renewed fiercely. Fighting still continues, 
the Boers holding their position well. Many Boers 



15 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

were killed or wounded, and the British also suffered 
considerable loss. 

" Heavy firing can be heard south of Mafeking, 
where General Cronje's commando is operating. 

" A corps of experienced continental engineers, for- 
mer officers, has left Pretoria for the southwestern 
borders, escorted by a command of picked Boer shots. 
It is probably intended for large dynamiting operations. 

" A big engagement is expected shortly in the vicin- 
ity of Ladysmith. The forces of Commandant Piet 
Vys are encamped on a mountain overlooking Dundee, 
from which point they will be able to observe the 
movements of the British troops." 

Of a truth, the war was begun, and while the best 
informed were not able to predict what a day might 
bring forth, all within the limits of Cape Colony were 
confident that the British troops would make short 
work of the farmers, who were inclined to try their 
skill at the "game for kings." 



CHAPTER II. 

OCTOBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 

/^CTOBER 20. A battle is in progress at Glencoe. 
Gen. Sir William Penn Syraons has been wounded. 
This officer entered the British army in 1863, and 
served against Calokas in 1877-78, in the Zulu war, 
the Burmese expedition, and several other campaigns. 
He commanded the Second Brigade in the Tochi field 
force, and the First Division of the Tirah expeditionary 
force in 1897-98. He was decorated a Knight Com- 
mander of the Bath for services with the latter. He 
is the second in command to Major-Gen. Sir George 
Stewart White, who commands the British forces in 
Natal. 

This is the sixth day of Kimberley's investment by 
the enemy. An armoured train went out yesterday, 
and found the Boers still in the direction of Spytfon- 
tein. Their position is believed to be strong. 

October 21. Heavy fighting is going on at Dundee 
and Elandslaagte. It is a continuation of the engage- 
ment yesterday at Glencoe. 

October 22. The engagement still continues at 
Dundee and Elandslaagte. The Boers are shelling 

19 



20 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Dundee heavily. The British are entrenched in good 
positions. 

It is believed that the railway between Ladysmith 
and Glencoe has been repaired. 

The movements of the commandoes in the Utrecht 
district are somewhat mysterious. It is supposed that 
they have some idea of getting around between this 
place and Ladysmith. Many Boers are reported to be 
falling back in their old positions. They have been 
raising a series of fortifications between Sandspruit and 
Dannahausr, their object being to contest the advance 
of the imperial troops. Near Sandspruit camp they have 
a laager with several pieces of artillery, and another be- 
hind Volksrust. There are guns on Mouent Pogwani, 
overlooking Laing's Nek. Laing's Nek and Ingogo 
Heights are fortified ; earthworks have been thrown up 
and guns left at the various places on the way south. 

The latest despatches received to-day do not indicate 
any general incursion of Boers as yet into Bechuana- 
land. Along the Orange River everything seems to 
be quiet. From Colesberg it is reported that all the 
available Burghers of the Orange Free State have been 
sent north and west. 

On the other hand, a messenger from Aliwal North 
reports that a large body of Boers is advancing toward 
the Orange River. Refugees are leaving that town 
in great numbers daily. The Boers have mounted a 
Krupp gun on a bridge commanding the most thickly 
peopled part. 




PORTRAIT OF LORD KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM. 



OCTOBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 21 

A wholesome fear of a rising in Basutoland prevents 
the Boers invading Cape Colony, and, on the other 
hand, there is considerable disturbance at Maseru and 
other Basuto stations, arising from native apprehensions 
of Boer attacks. 

It appears that colonial news is in some mysterious 
way supplied to the Boers, and that their movements 
depend largely on intelligence communicated through 
natives. Disquieting information comes from Herschel 
and other points in Cape Colony, where the natives are 
much excited. 

October 2^. It is rumoured here this morning that 
Barkly West, northwest of Kimberley, has been sur- 
rendered to the Boers without firing a shot. 

Cape volunteers, it is reported, will be sent to relieve 
Kimberley. 

A despatch from Kimberley reports : " Great en- 
thusiasm has been aroused here by the news of the 
British successes in Natal. Several farmers from 
the neighbourhood of Kimberley have been noticed 
in the ranks of the Boers. A letter from Father 
Rorke said six hundred Boers, with one hundred 
wagons, were laagered at Taungs. All the whites have 
left except the women, who sought refuge in the con- 
vent. The Boer commandant has promised to protect 
them." 

The story of the retreat from Glencoe and Dundee 
shows that the British were forced to move their camp 
twice in order to get out of the range of excellent Boer 



22 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

practice. Just as they had decided to evacuate the 
second camp a shell killed two soldiers. 

When General Yule heard of the battle of Elands- 
laagte, he sent a squad of Hussars, under Colonel Knox, 
and a battery of artillery to intercept the Boers at 
Biggarsberg. The artillery succeeded in shelling the 
Boers as they were returning over the Umpati Moun- 
tains, killing and wounding many ; but the artillerymen 
were forced to retire by the rifle fire of the enemy. 

It appears that the Boers shelled the camp all day 
Sunday, and the British were kept busy skirmishing 
and removing their transport wagons out of range. 
During the retreat there were many anxious moments 
Monday night, when the British marched through Van 
Londeers Pass, six miles long, across to Biggarsberg. 
The troops got through the dangerous defile, which fifty 
men could have easily held, at three o'clock Tuesday 
morning. 

A young officer of the Manchesters, wounded at 
Dundee, lay on the hillside, expecting to die during the 
night, which had already fallen, bleeding from a bad 
wound in his thigh, and shivering with cold, when 
there stumbled over him a "Tommy of his company 
named Rodgers." This "Tommy" quickly whipped 
off his own overcoat, placed it around the boy ofhcer, 
and, lying down, put his arms around him, and for the 
rest of that long, cold night kept him "beautifully 
warm." And there are now being told many such 
incidents. 



OCTOBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 2^ 

A Dutch circular is being secretly circulated in the 
Kurghersdorp, appealing to the Dutch to stand shoul- 
der to shoulder against "the tyrant who never keeps 
faith." 

With regard to the western frontier, it is reported 
that President Steyn recently visited a force of two 
thousand Boers encamped ten miles south of Kimberley. 

October 24.. It is reported that the Boers are shell- 
ing Ladysmith. 

General White engaged the enemy at Rietfontein, or, 
as the place is sometimes called, Jonono's, for five hours, 
finally driving the Boers from their position. The 
British loss is reported as 1 16 killed and wounded. 

October 2^. The following despatch has just been 
received from Ladysmith : " All well here. Enemy still 
shelling. We made a successful night attack on his 
trenches, losing six killed and nine wounded. Boers 
have vacated Signal Hill." 

A second despatch from Ladysmith, dated the 23d, 
and delayed in some unaccountable manner, contains the 
following : " Strong reinforcements of infantry and artil- 
lery have arrived here from Pietermaritzburg." 

It is reported that the Boers are again massing near 
Elandslaagte, and that a Free State force, several thou- 
sand strong, is occupying Bester's Station. 

There is little news from the western border. The 
cordon around Kimberley is drawing closer, but hopes 
are expressed that a flying column will shortly be sent 
to its relief. 



24 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The Boers have occupied Windsorton, an unprotected 
town. The magistrate, with the consent of the inhab- 
itants, surrendered on demand, conditional upon the 
lives and properties of the people being respected. 

There is intense anxiety for further news from Mafe- 
king, where it is believed a number of officers, who were 
supposed to be on furlough, had joined Colonel Baden- 
Powell. 

General White sends a despatch from Ladysmith dated 
at 3.50 o'clock this afternoon: "The advance guard 
of the force sent out by me this morning to get in 
touch with and help General Yule's column, was within 
three miles of that column, which had temporarily halted 
at Sunday River about noon, I have occupied all the 
strong positions on the road to Ladysmith, and I have 
no further anxiety about them. I have received from 
Lieutenant Kenrick, signalling officer of the Queen's 
Regiment, who has ridden in, and also from Colonel 
Dartnell of the Natal Police, who accompanied the 
column, the best account of the spirits and efficiency 
of the troops, who are very anxious to meet the enemy 
again." 

Several Boers own officially that they lost over one 
hundred killed at Elandslaagte. Three hundred pris- 
oners, wounded and unwounded, are in the hands of the 
British, including several of high position. The Trans- 
vaal force defeated at Elandslaagte was the Johannes- 
burg corps. 

Other accounts dwell on the severity of the rifle fire 



OCTOBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 25 

at Rietfontein. They say that when the Boers finally 
retreated, the Lancers cut them off from their horses, 
and inflicted severe loss on them. The retreat ended 
in a general rout. 

Brigadier-General Yule's force has left Dundee, with 
the view of concentration at Ladysmith. 

In the action at Elandslaagte on the 2 1 st, the Johan- 
nesburg force, with a detachment of the German corps, 
was completely broken up. 

The Portuguese authorities have reconducted over 
the Transvaal border five hundred white and black 
prisoners, whom the Boers released from their jails and 
turned loose in Portuguese territory. 

October 26. The despatches from the front to-day 
are so diversified and contradictory that it is difficult 
to outline the situation with any degree of exactitude. 
Three or four main facts, however, stand out prom- 
inently. General Symons's fight at Glencoe was not 
anything like the decisive victory at first alleged, and 
General Yule would, in all probability, have been anni- 
hilated, or have met with the same fate as the captured 
Hussars, if he had not retreated. 

General White's artillery duel at Rietfontein was a 
very severe engagement, in which the rifle did great 
execution, and where success was only achieved at a 
distressing cost. 

The bombardment of Mafeking has commenced, with 
unknown result, and the Boers have got their Hussar 
prisoners safely to Pretoria. 



26 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

October z'j. The news from the northern border in- 
dicates that the Boers are actively trying to prevent 
Colonel Plummer from relieving Mafeking, whence the 
absence of news since Pretoria announced the bombard- 
ment of the place, is creating considerable alarm. 

October jo. The following despatch has just been 
received from Ladysmith : " All well. Enemy now 
closing to invest us, and destroying railway two miles 
north." 

October J I. Reports are current here that General 
White may retire to Pietermaritzburg while the railway 
is intact. 

There is much divergence of opinion in military 
circles as to the advisability of such a step. 

From Ladysmith : " Assault to-day on southeast 
corner of town. Our loss, five killed, five wounded." 

A story of terrible disaster comes from Nicholson's 
Nek. General White has been defeated wofully, and 
with great loss of both men and guns. 

Such a defeat must be appalling to a general who is 
practically surrounded. Two of the finest British reg- 
iments and a mule battery deducted from the Lady- 
smith garrison weakens it about a fifth of its total 
strength, and alters the whole situation very materially 
in favour of the Boers, who once again have shown 
themselves stern fighters and military strategists of 
superior order. 

The disaster cost the British from fifteen hundred to 
two thousand men, and six 7-pound screw-guns, and, 



OCTOBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 27 

as the Boer artillery is already stronger than the Brit- 
ish, the capture of these guns will be a great help to 
the enemy. 

Apart from the immediate loss in effectives, which 
will seriously cripple General White's operations, the 
British defeat must have a most depressing effect on 
the balance of the Ladysmith force, while it may 
be expected to have much more weight with those 
Boers who are wavering as to which side to support. 

Further news must be awaited before it is attempted 
to attach the blame where it belongs. General White 
manfully accepts all the discredit attaching to the dis- 
aster, which, apparently, was at least partially due to 
the stampeding of the mules with the guns. 

Forty-two officers were made prisoners, besides a 
newspaper correspondent, Mr. J. Hyde. 

The latest advices show all was well at Kimberley on 
Thursday. Although the usual water supply of the 
town was cut off, there was ample water for the needs 
of the citizens. A small body of Boers approached the 
town on Wednesday, and Major Chamier made a sortie 
with a reconnoitring party, and some guns on board an 
armoured train. After a few shots the Burghers fled. 
There were no casualties on the British side. 

The police garrisons of Fourteen Streams and 
Taunds have arrived at Kimberley. Everything tends 
to confirm the statement that Colonel Baden-Powell 
temporarily worsted the Boers at Maf eking, and it ap- 
pears true that upward of three hundred wounded 



28 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Boers have arrived at Johannesburg. The Boers, how- 
ever, seem to have re-occupied the scene of the fight- 
ing, as an attempt to recover the bodies of the British 
dead failed, owing, it is alleged, to the Boers refusing to 
recognise the Red Cross flag. 



CHAPTER III. 

GLENCOE, DUNDEE, AND ELANDSLAAGTE, 

AFTER a lapse of more than eighteen years, and on 
the second anniversary of the storming of Dargal 
Heights by the Gordon Highlanders, Britisher and 
Boer met for the second time near Majuba Hill, and on 
this last occasion the English forces had no reason to 
be dissatisfied with the result. 

That engagement known as the battle of Glencoe 
was fought October 20, 1899 ; but not to a finish, since 
the actions at Dundee and Elandslaagte on the 21st 
and 22d were but continuations of the struggle which 
began amid fog and rain at Glencoe camp. 

On the 1 8th of October a squadron of the i8th Hus- 
sars, under command of Major Laming, rode out from 
Glencoe camp on a reconnoissance, little dreaming that 
the enemy were moving toward Elandslaagte, bent on 
driving what should be the opening wedge for a victory 
at Ladysmith. 

When having gained the brow of a hill beyond 
Hatingspruit Station, the officers' patrol, under Lieu- 

29 



30 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

tenant Cape, sighted a strong advance party of the 
enemy. 

The Hussars retired on the main body, and made 
ready to open fire had the Boers continued their 
advance. 

The wily enemy were not to be drawn on. In fact, 
having met those who were their equals if not their 
superiors in swift tactical movements, they hesitated, 
after delivering their fire, apparently staggered at their 
poor success with the rifle, and, perceiving that the 
Hussars had manoeuvred out of range, they turned 
quickly and retired. 

The failing light alone prevented the Hussars from 
following up their advantage. The enemy refusing to 
make a farther advance, the Hussars returned to camp. 

Not until thirty-six hours had elapsed did the Boers 
show themselves again in the vicinity of Glencoe, and 
then at break of day on the 20th of October, it was 
discovered that the enemy had several guns in position 
on Dundee Hill, east of the British camp. 

The natural conclusion of the English commanders 
was that the Boers proposed to hold the force at Lady- 
smith by demonstrations of the Free State Burghers on 
the western side, in order to prevent reinforcements 
being sent to Glencoe, which place was to be isolated 
by cutting the railway between it and Ladysmith, after 
which a large force would probably make a converging 
attack upon the camp. 

As a matter of fact, General Joubert had in mind 



GLENCOE, DUNDEE, AND ELANDSLAAGTE. 3 1 

only a converging attack by three columns, each accom- 
panied by a battery of eight guns. General Meyer 
was to lead the left wing, made up of seven hundred 
men from the Vryheid commands. General Erasmus, 
with six hundred Pretorians, comfnanded the centre, 
while Commandants Grobler and Trichardt led four 
hundred Ermelo Burghers, comprising the left wing. 

Owing to the fog the columns failed to connect, and 
it was General Meyer's command alone that opened the 
battle beginning at Glencoe camp. 

The total British force consisted of the 18th Hussars, 
the Nalal mounted volunteers, the ist battalion of the 
Leicestershire regiment, the ist King's Royal Rifles, 
the 2d Dublin Fusiliers, the Devonshire regiment, the 
Dorsetshire regiment, several companies of mounted 
infantry, and three field-batteries, a total of about four 
thousand men. 

The seizure of Dundee Hill by the Boers was a sur- 
prise, for, although the pickets had been exchanging 
shots all night, it was not until a shell boomed over the 
town into the camp that their presence was discovered. 
Then the shells came fast. The hill appeared to be 
alive with the swarming Boers. The British artillery 
got to work with energy and precision. The batteries 
from the camp took up position to the south of the 
town, and, after a quarter of an hour's firing, silenced 
the guns on the hills. 

At this time the enemy held the whole of the hill 
behind Smith's farm and the Dundee Kopje, right away 



32 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

to the south, in which direction the British infantry and 
cavalry moved at once. The fighting raged particularly 
hot in the valley outside the town. 

Directly the Boer guns ceased firing, General Symons 
ordered the infantry to move on the position. The 
infantry charge was magnificent. The King's Royal 
Rifles and the Dublin Fusiliers stormed the position in 
fine style. 

The firing of the Boers was not so deadly as might 
have been expected from the troops occupying such an 
excellent position, but the infantry lost heavily. 

Indeed, the hill was almost inaccessible to the storm- 
ing party, and any hesitation would have lost the day. 
Many of the enemy's guns were abandoned, for the 
Boers had no time to remove them. A stream of fugi- 
tives poured down the hillside into the valley, where the 
battle went on with no abatement. 

General Sir William Penn Symons was wounded 
early in the action, and the command then devolved 
upon General Yule. General Symons was shot through 
the thigh, but no bones were broken. 

The enemy, as they fled, were followed by the cav- 
alry, mounted infantry, and artillery. The direction 
taken was to the eastward. 

Although the enemy's position was carried soon after 
one o'clock, scattered firing went on throughout the 
afternoon. 

The final rush was made with a triumphant yell, and, 
as the British troops charged to close quarters, the 



enemy turned and fled, leaving all their impedimenta 
and guns behind them in their precipitate flight. 

While this was going on, one battery of artillery, the 
1 8th Hussars, and the mounted infantry, with a part of 
the Leicester regiment, got on the enemy's flank, and 
as the Boers streamed wildly down the hill, making for 
the main road, they found their retreat had been cut 
off, but they rallied for awhile, and there was severe 
firing, with considerable loss on both sides. 

During Friday night the missing columns of the 
Boers took position between Dundee and Elandslaagte, 
and the engagement of the 2ist of October is thus 
described by Gen. George Stewart White, the general 
commanding in Natal : 

" In the action at Elandslaagte the troops engaged 
were the following : cavalry, 5th Lancers, a squadron 
of the 5th Dragoon Guards, the Imperial Light Horse, 
and two squadrons of Natal Carbineers; artillery, 21st 
Field Battery, 42d Field Battery, the Natal Field Bat- 
tery ; infantry, the Devonshire regiment, half a battalion 
of the Gordon Highlanders, and the Manchester regi- 
ment. The whole force was under General French, with 
Colonel Ian Hamilton commanding the infantry. 

"I was present in person from 3.3d p. m. to 6.30 
p. M. ; but did not assume direction of the fight, which 
was left in the hands of General French. Although 
desultory fighting took place earlier in the day while 
reinforcements, sent out later on ascertaining the 
enemy's strength, were arriving from Ladysmith, the 



34 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

real action did not begin until 3.30 p. m. At that hour 
the Boers held a position of very exceptional strength, 
consisting of a rock hill about one and one-half miles 
southeast of Elandslaagte station, 

"At 3.30 p, M. our guns took a position on a ridge 
4,100 yards from the Boers, whose guns at once opened 
fire. This fire was generally well directed, but some- 
what high. Contrary to previous experiences, their 
shells burst well. 

" The Imperial Light Horse moved toward the left 
of the enemy's position, and two squadrons of the 5th 
Lancers toward his right. During the artillery duel, 
mounted Boers pushed out from their left and engaged 
the Imperial Light Horse. In a few minutes the 
enemy's guns ceased firing, and our artillery was 
turned on the mounted Boers who opposed the Im- 
perial Light Horse, who at once fell back. After the 
artillery preparations, our infantry advanced to the 
attack, supported by our guns in the second position. 
The Devonshires held the enemy in front, while the 
Manchester regiment and the Gordon Highlanders 
turned his left flank. 

"The Boers' guns, although often temporarily 
silenced, invariably opened fire again on the slightest 
opportunity, and were served with great courage. 

" After severe firing, our infantry carried the posi- 
tion. At 6.30 p. M. this was accomplished, the enemy 
standing his ground to the last with courage and tenac- 
ity. The 5th Lancers and a squadron of the 5th 



GLENCOE, DUNDEE, AND ELANDSLAAGTE. 35 

Dragoon Guards charged thrice through the retreating 
Boers in the dark, doing considerable execution. 

" We captured the Boer camp with tents, wagons, 
horses, and also two guns. The Boer losses were very 
considerable, including a number of wounded and un- 
wounded prisoners. Among the former are General 
Jan Kock and Piet Joubert, nephew of Commandant- 
General Joubert. 

" One goods train, with supplies for Glencoe camp, 
and nine English prisoners were recovered. Our loss, 
I regret to say, was heavy. It is roughly computed at 
150 killed and wounded." 

The battle was not ended, although at the close of 
the fight on the 21st it appeared as if the Boers were 
completely vanquished. The chief portion of the Free 
State troops halted at Biggarsberg, and it was neces- 
sary General Yule's force should join the troops at 
Ladysmith. 

To avoid the risk of life which a long march would 
have entailed, the wounded were left at Dundee under 
medical supervision. 

Sir George White, having ascertained by a previous 
reconnoissance that the Free State forces had moved 
eastward from Bester's Station and were attempting to 
gain the road from Ladysmith to the north, moved out 
in the direction of Elandslaagte, with the 5th Lancers, 
19th Hussars, Imperial Light Horse, Natal mounted 
volunteers, two of the field-batteries, one mountain- 
battery, and a brigade of infantry. 



36 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The enemy posted a battery two miles south of 
Modderspruit, and opened with infantry fire at long 
range on the British-advance guard, consisting of the 
19th Hussars. This was followed by artillery fire 
directed with considerable accuracy against the British 
guns. An action lasting six hours ensued at Riet- 
fontein Farm. The enemy was driven from the 
hills commanding the roads. Sir George White's 
object being accompHshed, the column returned to 
Ladysmith. 

Lieutenant Clem Webb, who took part with the Im- 
perial Light Horse by the side of the Gordon High- 
landers in that famous charge up the precipitous steep 
at Elandslaagte, thus described the affair : 

" The battle was a terrible one, and the slaughter too 
awful for the victory which yet had to be won. Our 
men fought splendidly, and led most of the charges. 
The artillery shells burst within ten yards of us, all 
around, and yet some of our men had to sit on horses 
at ' attention ' under the fire for an hour. 

" I saw some horrible sights, and yet one must 
expect these things. One Gordon got a shell right 
in the face, knocking his head clean off. We charged 
up to the cannon's mouth and took their guns, the 
Gordons using the bayonets. The Boers were very 
plucky, — shouted for us to come on, and stood to the 
last. I saw Ben Viljoen badly wounded, and Captain 
Schiel. I saw Kock and Piennar, both dead, and 
Doctor Coster with a bullet in his head. There are 



GLENCOE, DUNDEE, AND ELANDSLAAGTE. 37 

heaps of the Johannesburg, Krugersdorp, and Boksburg 
officials dead and wounded, and others prisoners, several 
Irish and English among them. 

"The Lancers made a charge into those who ran. 
Some went down on their knees, and prayed for mercy, 
and were let off ; others did this, and then shot at our 
men as they went away. One cur killed a Gordon 
officer who let him off. Some fine fellows were killed 
and died bravely. I asked Schurmann, of Johannes- 
burg, what he now thought of the Johannesburg white 
slaves, and he replied : ' By heaven, you're a brave lot 
of men.' He is a prisoner. 

" Captain Schiel played the part of a man when badly 
wounded, refusing help until our men had been attended 
to, and ordering his crowd to discontinue shooting at 
our wounded. We killed and wounded all their officers. 
Our artillery shooting is very accurate, and the men 
brave and cheerful. We were right beside them for an 
hour." 

An extract from the London CJironicle's correspond- 
ent's report of the battle : 

" The remnants of them were struggling to get away 
in the twilight over a bit of rocky plain on our left. 
There the Dragoon Guards got them, and three times 
went through. A Dragoon Guards corporal who was 
there tells me the Boers fell off their horses and rolled 
among the rocks, hiding their heads in their arms and 
calling for mercy, — calling to be shot, anything to 



38 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

escape the stab of those terrible lances through their 
backs and bowels. But not many escaped. 'We just 
gave them a good dig as they lay,' were the corporal's 
words. Next day most of the lances were bloody." 

A young officer, hardly more than a lad, thus wrote 
from Pietermaritzburg Hospital to his mother, one week 
after the battle : 

" I lay where I fell for about three-quarters of an 
hour, when a doctor came and put a field-dressing on 
my wound, gave me some brandy, put my helmet under 
my head as a pillow, covered me with a Boer blanket, 
which he had taken from a dead man, and then went to 
look after some other poor beggar. I shall never forget 
the horrors of that night as long as I live. In addition 
to the agony which my wound gave me, I had two 
sharp stones running into my back, I was soaked to the 
skin and bitterly cold, but had an awful thirst ; the tor- 
rents of rain never stopped. On one side of me was a 
Gordon Highlander in raving delirium, and on the other 
a Boer who had had his leg shattered by a shell, and 
who gave vent to the most heartrending cries and 
groans. War is a funny game, mother, and no one can 
realise what its grim horrors are like till they see it in 
all its barbarous reality. I lay out in the rain the whole 
of the night, and at daybreak was put into a doolie by 
a doctor, and some natives carried me down to the 
station. The ground was awfully rough, and they 




THE CHARGE OF THE IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE AT ELANDS- 
LAAGTE. 



GLEnCoe, Dundee, and elandslaagte. 39 

dropped me twice ; I fainted both times. I was sent 
down to Ladysmith in the hospital-train ; from the 
station I was conveyed to the chapel (officers' hospital) 
in a bullock-cart, the jolting of which made me faint 
again. I was the last officer taken in. I was then put 
to bed, and my wound was dressed just seventeen hours 
after I was hit. They then gave me some beef-tea, which 
was the first food I had had for twenty-seven hours." 

A pathetic incident at Elandslaagte is described in a 
letter from one of the bearer company : 

"We were out looking after the wounded at night 
when the fight was over, and I came across an old, 
white-bearded Boer. He was lying behind a bit of rock, 
supporting himself on his elbows. I was a bit wary of 
the old fellow at first. Some of these w^ounded Boers, 
we've found, are snakes in the grass. You go up to 
them with the best intentions, and the next thing you 
know is that the man you were going to succour is 
blazing at you with his gun. So I kept my eye on 
the old chap. But when I got nearer I saw that he 
was too far gone to raise his rifle. He was gasping 
hard for breath, and I saw he was not long for this 
world. He motioned to me that he wanted to speak, 
and I bent over him. He asked me to go and find his 
son, a boy of thirteen, who had been fighting by his 
side when he fell. I did as he asked me, and under a 
heap of wounded I found the poor lad, stone-dead, and 



40 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

I carried him back to his father. Well, you know I'm 
not a chicken-hearted sort of a fellow. I have seen a 
bit of fighting in my time, and that sort of thing knocks 
all the soft out of a chap. But I had to turn away 
when that old Boer saw his dead lad. He hugged the 
body to him and moaned over it, and carried on in a 
way that fetched a big lump in my throat. Until that 
very moment I never thought how horrible war is. I 
never wanted to see another shot fired. And when I 
looked around again, the old Boer was dead, clasping 
the cold hand of his dead boy." 

The War Office issued the following list of casualties 
in the battle of Glencoe, October 20th : 

General Symons, badly wounded in the stomach. 

Colonel C. ■ E. Beckett, assistant adjutant-general, 
severely wounded in the right shoulder. 

Major Frederick Hammersley, deputy assistant adju- 
tant-general, seriously wounded in the leg. 

Colonel John Sherston, deputy staff officer and brigade 
major, killed. 

First Battalion Royal Irish Fusihers : Second Lieut. 
A. H. M. Hill, killed; Capt. H. B. Connor, wounded, 
since dead ; Capt. G. A. Weldon, killed ; Lieut. C. G. 
J. L. Genge, wounded, since dead. 

King's Royal Rifles : Lieut.-Col. R. H. Gunning, 
killed; Capt. H. K. Pechell, killed; Lieut. J. Taylor, 
killed ; Lieut. R. C. Barnett, killed ; Lieut. N. J. Ham- 
bro, killed. Eight other officers were wounded. 



GLENCOE, DUNDEE, AND ELANDSLAAGTE. 4 1 

The War Office announces that in the battle thirty- 
one non-commissioned officers and men were killed and 
151 wounded. 

The list of officers kUled and wounded strikingly 
shows that, although the British victory was complete, 
it was bought at a heavy price. 

Among the rank and file the Hussars had seven 
wounded ; the artillery, one killed and three wounded ; 
the Leicestershire regiment, one wounded ; the King's 
Rifles, eleven killed and sixty-eight wounded ; the Irish 
Fusiliers, fourteen killed and thirty wounded ; the Dub- 
lin Fusiliers, four killed and forty-one wounded, and the 
Natal Police, two wounded. 

Colonel Sherston was a nephew of General Lord 
Roberts. As his aide-de-camp, he went through the 
Afghan war, accompanying Lord Roberts on the famous 
Kandahar march. 

Colonel Gunning went through the Zulu war, and 
was also in the Burma campaign. 

Among the losses of the Boers at Elandslaagte were : 

General Viljeon, killed ; General Kock, wounded and 
captured (since dead) ; General Kock's son, killed ; 
Colonel Schiel, German officer commanding the artil- 
lery, Avounded and a prisoner ; Commander Pretorious, 
wounded and taken prisoner. 

The following order was issued on the day after the 
engagement at Glencoe : 

" The Queen has been pleased to approve of the pro- 
motion of Colonel Local Lieutenant-General Symons, 



42 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

commanding the 4th division of the Natal field force, 
to be a major-general supernumerary to the establish- 
ment, for distinguished service in the field." 

General Symons was one of the few who escaped on 
that memorable January morning at Isandula, when 
nearly the whole of his regiment, the gallant 24th, 
perished. Thus there is a tragic completeness in his 
victory near the scene of that massacre. 



CHAPTER IV. 



NICHOLSON S NEK DISASTER. 



/^"^ENERAL WHITE, commanding at Ladysmith, 
^-^ sent the following official despatch, which at the 
best makes sorry reading for all concerned : 

♦'Ladysmith, October 31st, at 7.50 p.m. — I took 
out from Ladysmith a brigade of mounted troops, two 
brigade divisions of the Royal Artillery, the Natal field- 
battery, and two brigades of infantry, to reconnoitre in 
force the enemy's main position to the north, and, 
if the opportunity should offer, to capture the hill be- 
hind Farquhar's Farm, which had on the previous day 
been held in strength by the enemy. In connection 
with this advance, a column, consisting of the loth 
Mountain Artillery, four half-companies of the Glouces- 
ters, and six companies of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, the 
whole under Lieutenant-Colonel Carlton and Major 
Adye, deputy assistant adjutant-general, was des- 
patched, at II p. M., on the 29th, to march by night 
up Bell's Spruit, and seize Nicholson's Nek, or some po- 
sition near Nicholson's Nek, thus turning the enemy's 
right flank. 

" The main advance was successfully carried out, the 
objective of the attack being found evacuated, and an 

43 



44 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

artillery duel, between our field-batteries and the en- 
emy's guns of the position and Maxims, is understood 
to have caused heavy loss to the enemy. 

" The reconnoissance forced the enemy to fully dis- 
close his position, and after a strong counter attack 
upon our right, the infantry brigade and cavalry, had 
been repulsed, the troops were slowly withdrawn to 
camp, pickets being left on observation. 

" Late in the engagement the naval contingent, un- 
der Captain Lambton, of H. M. S. Powerful, came into 
action, and silenced, with their extremely accurate 
fire, the enemy's guns of position. 

" The circumstances which attended the movements 
of Lieutenant- Colonel Carlton's column are not fully 
known yet, but from reports received, the column ap- 
peared to have carried out the night's march unmo- 
lested, until within two miles of Nicholson's Nek. At 
this point two boulders rolled from the hill, and a few 
rifle-shots stampeded the infantry ammunition mules. 
The stampede spread to the battery mules, which broke 
loose from their leaders and got away with practically 
the whole of the gun equipment and the greater portion 
of the regimental small-arm ammunition. The reserve 
was similarly lost. 

"The infantry battalions, however, fixed bayonets, 
and, accompanied by the personnel of the artillery, 
seized a hill on the left of the road, two miles from 
the Nek, with but little opposition. 

" There they remained unmolested till dawn, the 



Nicholson's nek disaster. 45 

time being occupied in organising the defence of the 
hill and constructing stone sangars and walls as 
covers from fire. 

" At dawn a skirmishing attack on our position was 
commenced by the enemy, but made no way until 9.30 
A. M., when strong reinforcements enabled them to 
rush to the attack with great energy. Their fire be- 
came very searching, and two companies of the Glouces- 
ters in an advanced position were ordered to fall back. 
The enemy then pressed to short range, the losses on 
our side becoming very numerous. 

" At 3 p. M. our ammunition was practically exhausted, 
the position was captured, and the survivors of the col- 
umn fell into the enemy's hands. 

"The enemy treated our wounded with humanity, 
General Joubert at once despatching a letter to me, 
offering a safe-conduct to doctors and ambulances to 
remove the wounded. A medical ofifiicer and parties 
to render first aid to the wounded were despatched to 
the scene of action from Ladysmith last night, and the 
ambulance at dawn this morning. 

"The want of success of the column was due to 
the misfortune of the mules stampeding and the con- 
sequent loss of the guns and small-arm ammunition 
reserved. 

" The official list of casualties and prisoners will be 
reported shortly. The latter are understood to have 
been sent by rail to Pretoria. 

" The security of Ladysmith is in no way affected." 



46 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

In a later despatch General White adds to the sad 
story of the disaster, which must stand side by side 
with the tale of Majuba Hill in 188 1 : 

" A man of the Fusiliers, employed as a hospital 
orderly, came in under a flag of truce with a letter from 
the survivors of the column, who asked for assistance 
to bury the dead. 

" I formed a plan, in the carrying out of which the 
disaster occurred, and I am alone responsible for the 
plan. There is no blame whatever to the troops, as 
the position was untenable." 

The official account from Pretoria did not materially 
change the story. It is in part as follows : 

" General Joubert was in supreme command. The 
Britishers advanced in the darkness on the Republic's 
force, on the right of the hill, formed by the Free 
Staters, commanded by General Cronje. A stampede 
of their mules threw the whole force in disorder. The 
British batteries were observed in a long line on 
the plains in the direction of the Boers' centre, along 
the table-hill, from which our artillery opened fire 
on the English batteries coming into position from 
Lombardskop, with a Creusot. The second shell fell in 
their midst. It was followed by shot after shot, draw- 
ing the British concealed batteries. From six to twelve 
the hill was a veritable inferno of hissing, whistling 
fragments of shells. 









4 


^ i --^ ^^ 


^ 




1 ^'-^.^ 





LORD ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR. 



NICHOLSON S NEK DISASTER. 47 

" At first the British failed to reach the hill, while the 
Boer fire told heavily. Eventually the British reached the 
Boers, and showered shells on our gunners. The Boers 
could only occasionally fire their guns. While a wounded 
gunner bandaged himself, another fought, oblivious of 
the fragments of shells at his back. Doctor Hohls was 
killed while bandaging the wounded. 

" In the meanwhile the Burghers got their howitzers 
farther forward and into play, and the extreme end of 
Meyers's battery got in their deadly work." 

Mr. Steevens, the English newspaper correspondent, 
who died in Ladysmith before the town was relieved, 
thus wrote regarding the disaster : 

"The best part of a thousand British soldiers, with 
all their arms and equipment and four mountain guns, 
were captured by the enemy. The Boers had their 
revenge for Dundee and Elandslaagte in war ; now they 
took it, full measure, in kindness. . . . They gave the 
whole men the water out of their own bottles ; they 
gave the wounded the blankets off their own saddles, 
and slept themselves on the naked veldt. . . . What 
bitter shame for all the camp ! All ashamed for Eng- 
land ! Not of her, — never that ! — but for her. Once 
more she was a laughter to her enemies." 



CHAPTER V. 

NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 

\T0 VEMBER I. A despatch states that 3,000 
Boers have collected at Bethulie Bridge, under 
Field-Cornet Dutoit. The Orange River is now in full 
flood, and fording is reported to be impossible. 

Stragglers from the Gloucestershire regiment which 
participated in the disaster at Nicholson's Nek are 
arriving at Ladysmith. A number of mules, and a 
portion of the mountain-battery, are also coming in. 

Echoes from Nicholson's Nek : The character of the 
Dublins. Private Kavanagh — that day one of the 
stretcher-bearers — chaffed and encouraged his com- 
rades, telling them the Boer shells could hit nothing. 
He it was who, at Dundee, after the long day's battle, 
being asked if he was hungry, and did not wish for 
something to eat, said : " No. How can I with my 
mouth full .? " "Full," said his officer; "what do you 
mean ? " " Why, my heart's been in it all day, sir," 
replied Kavanagh, with a grin. And so the " hard 
case " of his battalion shouted and joked, walked about 
amid a tempest of bullets, and stirred the gallant, 
glorious Dublins to shoot well and true. 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 49 

November 2. The War Office has received a tele- 
gram sent from Ladysmith at 9.25 this morning, saying 
that General White was well, and holding his position. 
The brevity of the news received from Ladysmith since 
Tuesday night has not relieved the anxiety prevailing 
regarding the position of the British army at that place. 

The War Office this afternoon issued the following 
despatch sent by the chief of staff at Ladysmith, Natal, 
to the War Secretary : 

"Lieutenant Egerton, H. M. S. Powerful, seriously 
wounded this morning by a shell, left knee and right 
foot. Life not in danger at present." 

A special despatch from Ladysmith this afternoon 
says twenty British dead and one hundred wounded 
have been counted on the scene of Monday's disaster, 
while 870 prisoners were sent to Pretoria. 

Magistrate Harmsworth has arrived at Hope Town 
from Klipdam, and reports that there are six thousand 
Boers around Kimberley and that all the roads are 
strictly patrolled. 

He says he passed close enough to Kimberley to see 
the search-lights, and was informed that the defenders 
of Kimberley were satisfied they could hold out, but 
were wearied with the inactivity, and hoped that a 
relieving force would soon arrive. 

Stories of Boer victories have spread rapidly along 
the western border, and Magistrate Harmsworth esti- 



50 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

mates that over half the Dutch residents of Bechu- 
analand and Griqualand will join the Boers after the 
declaration of annexation. 

November ^. Colenso, in the rear of General White's 
force, is believed to be well defended by a composite 
naval and military corps, and it is understood that the 
two naval 12-pounders mounted near the bridge over 
the Tugela, one of the most vulnerable points along the 
railroad from Ladysmith to Pietermaritzburg, ought to 
be able to defend it and prevent its destruction. 

If the Boers should succeed in destroying this bridge 
it would mean the interruption of railroad communica- 
tion with Ladysmith for an indefinite period. While 
the Boer attempts in this direction are not confirmed, 
it is claimed that they may be expected momentarily, 
and the reported steady shelling of Ladysmith, it is 
added, points to the intention of the Boer commanders 
to keep General White occupied while their strategy is 
carried out. 

An official telegram reporting the condition of the 
wounded at Kimberley adds that Colonel Kekewitch, 
the British commander there, has learned from various 
sources that the Boer losses on the occasion of the late 
sortie of the British troops from Kimberley were very 
heavy. 

November /. A despatch from Ladysmith says that 
on Thursday afternoon the British cavalry charged the 
Boers while the latter were manoeuvring south of the 
town, and cut their way through them. 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 5 1 

A " long Tom " posted on Bulwana hill shelled the 
town, but little damage was done. 

The naval guns put the big Boer gun situated on 
Hepworth's hill out of action. 

The enemy at Grobler's Kloof engaged a company of 
the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and brisk firing occurred on 
both sides. An armoured train, with sixty infantry 
men on board, drew the enemy's fire, enabling the vol- 
unteers to make headquarters safely. 

November 5. Kimberley is holding out well, — at 
least we learn by an express rider that on Monday last, 
the sixteenth day of the siege, the most serious incon- 
venience complained of was the postal telegraph 
stoppages. 

Maf eking stands as it stood. Commander Cronje has 
stopped the shelling of the town, to find out from Col- 
onel Baden-Powell if he wishes to surrender. The gal- 
lant colonel replied that he would let the Boer leader 
know when he had enough. 

November 6. A cavalry action is reported to have 
occurred near Dewdrop. 

November y. The commandant at Durban sends 
the following, received from Ladysmith by pigeon post, 
dated November 3d : 

" Yesterday General French went out with cavalry 
and field-artillery, and effectively shelled the Boer 
laager, without loss on our side. 

"■ Lieutenant Egerton, of the Poiverficl, is dead. 
General Joubert sent in Major C. S. Kincaid, of the 



52 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Royal Irish Fusiliers, and nine wounded prisoners. 
Eight Boers were sent out in exchange, no others being 
fit to travel. 

" Colonel Brocklehurst, with cavalry, field-artillery, 
the Imperial Light Horse, and the Natal mounted vol- 
unteers, were engaged to-day with the enemy to the 
southwest of Ladysmith. The fighting lasted several 
hours. Our loss was very small. The bombardment of 
Ladysmith continued yesterday and to-day, many Boer 
shells being pitched into the town. Our troops are in 
good health and spirits, and the wounded are doing 
well." 

November 8. A private message from Maf eking re- 
ports that all was well there Monday, November 6th. 

The possible revolt of the Basuto chief, Joel, who, it 
has been announced, may join the Boers, is attributed 
to tribal jealousy. There has long been a feud between 
the half-brothers, Jonathan and Joel, the latter refusing 
to recognise his brother's nomination as chief. Joel, 
therefore, took an anti-British side against Jonathan 
in i88o, and committed most hideous atrocities. If 
he joins the Boers it is said the chiefs Lerothodi, 
Jonathan, and others are liable to make short work of 
the recalcitrants. 

November g. The Boers attacked Ladysmith this 
morning, but were repulsed with heavy loss. 

November lo. Colonel Gough, at Orange River, 
reports that, during the reconnoissance of fifteen miles 
to a point nine miles west of Belmont, to-day, the 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. K^ 

officers of the patrol first came on a Boer position 
taken upon a great semicircular ridge, standing out 
into a plateau. They endeavoured to make the Boers 
develop their strength by demonstrating with two 
squadrons of the 9th Lancers and a field-battery 
on the left wing, with one and one-half companies 
of mounted infantry on the right wing, and with artil- 
lery in the middle of the plateau, out of the infantry's 
fire. 

The enemy began by firing at the British cavalry from 
a gun at the north end. As the cavalry, in open order, 
began to circle around them, the hills seemed full of 
sharpshooters. The mounted infantry endeavoured to 
outflank the enemy's left, in order to discover the laager, 
coming under a heavy and unexpected fire from a few 
skirmishers. 

The British guns fired several apparently effective 
shots, but the enemy did not respond, having with- 
drawn with the wounded. The Boers did not fire on 
an ambulance. Colonel Gough withdrew his force 
after a demonstration lasting three hours, and returned 
to camp this afternoon near Orange River. 

The guns and a few horses were brought in by rail. 
The wounded were sent to Orange River by rail imme- 
diately after the action. The enemy's strength ap- 
peared considerable, apparently seven hundred, with one 
gun, under David Lipe and P. Van der Merwe. 

November 11. The Boers are endeavouring to sur- 
round Ladysmith in such way as to not only com- 



54 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

pletely invest the town and garrison, but also be in a 
position to meet any British reinforcements that may 
be sent from Durban. 

There are signs that the greater part of the Boer 
forces are concentrating between Ladysmith and Co- 
lenso. In this position Ladysmith is effectually cut off 
from all help, and, at the same time, the enemy is well 
placed to meet any British force advancing from Est- 
court. 

The risk to the Boers is great in case of a retreat, as 
General White would certainly intercept them, unless 
they fell back in the direction of Tintwa Pass and 
Olivers Hoek. If they should take either of these 
routes they must abandon most of their guns. 

The bombardment of Ladysmith continues. Prob- 
ably the Boers now have several heavy guns in place, 
so that the British garrison may have to endure severe 
trials. 

The Boer shells are said to be bursting better than 
hitherto, and the fire of their big weapons is becoming 
more effective. 

No more transports with troops have yet reached the 
Cape. No artillery can arrive much before the four- 
teenth, as the Armenian, with three field batteries, is not 
due till that day. 

Without guns, an advance from Estcourt will be 
almost impossible if the Boers hold the heights near 
Pieter's Station in strength. 

In yesterday's fight the Boers made their appearance 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 55 

near Carter's farm. The British opened fire with a 
Maxim, the enemy replying with rifles. By mistake, 
the English fire went down into the valley, killing a 
member of the Cape Police and wounding another. 
The British finally retired on the reservoir, where two 
guns were brought up to shell the Boers. The result 
is not yet known. 

Meanwhile some Boers had occupied Kamper's dam, 
firing with one gun on Otto's kopje, but not getting the 
range. They did no damage. It is believed that six 
Boers were killed in the first fight. 

The Boers now surround Kimberley in great numbers, 
and are bent on " lifting " cattle and harrassing the 
British. New alarm signals were sounded at ten o'clock 
this morning, the enemy having been observed in 
greater numbers, and closer to our outposts. They 
fired on a patrol under Major Peakman, which engaged 
them, but the firing was at long range. The only cas- 
ualty was the wounding of Major Ayleff of the Cape 
Police. 

The enemy "lifted" forty cattle northeast of the 
sanitarium, subsequently firing eight shells in the neigh- 
bourhood of Telsmead's farm at Kennilworth. They 
did no damage, and retired. Later they fired on a 
number of convicts who were working near the sanita- 
rium, and eventually went off with a large number of 
cattle and donkeys. 

A siege train for South Africa is to be mobilised 
immediately. It will consist of thirty howitzers, with 



56 FIGHTING FOk THE EMPIRE. 

thirty-two officers and about eleven hundred men. Fif- 
teen thousand rounds of lyddite shells will go with the 
train. No news has been received from either Kimber- 
ley or Mafeking, but a feeling of confidence prevails that 
the Boers have not made any impression on the de- 
fences of those two posts. 

November 12. If the news contained in the Preto- 
ria despatch of Thursday, November 9th, received here 
on the loth, is correct, and the Boer despatches have 
almost invariably rendered fairly accurate accounts, it 
is claimed that it implies that a general assault on 
Ladysmith was pending when General Joubert's report 
was sent. 

Attention is called to the fact that the date, Novem- 
ber 9th, is assumed to be the date of General White's 
last pigeon-post message, announcing a renewal of the 
bombardment, since which nothing has been received 
except rumours from Estcourt, that the bombardment 
was suspended November loth. 

It is claimed that if the Boers got their forces within 
fifteen hundred yards of the British position, it shows 
they fully realise the necessity of utilising the brief 
interval before the arrival of the British reinforcements 
to make a determined attempt to storm General White's 
position. 

To successfully advance so close to Ladysmith, it is 
pointed out, the Boers must have been most active in 
entrenching, and the nearness of the besieging lines 
indicates their readiness for the assault, which there has 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. . 57 

been a disposition in military circles to believe the Boers 
were not willing to undertake. It must, however, have 
been patent to General Joubert that Ladysmith would 
not fall to the fire of his artillery, and therefore he 
had no choice but to assault the place or retire to 
the passes of the Drakensberg, in the hope of involv- 
ing the pursuing, British in the intricate fastnesses of 
the mountains. 

The cessation of the cannonade mentioned in the 
despatch, and the opening of musketry fire implies, it 
is said, that the Boers were obliged to stop their 
artillery for fear of hitting their own men ; and that 
nothing further has been heard from this movement 
is regarded here as an indication either that the 
threatened assault was postponed, or that the result 
was indecisive. Otherwise something further would 
have leaked out before now. 

November ij. Despatches from Estcourt say it has 
been ascertained that the British have laid concrete 
beds for firing the lyddite naval guns, showing that 
there is no foundation for the fear that the lyddite 
ammunition at Ladysmith has been exhausted. It is 
also reported from the same quarters that some fires 
have been seen at Ladysmith, indicating that the Boer 
bombardment has been to a certain extent effective. 

A special despatch confirms the earlier report that 
it was General Buller who ordered the British evacua- 
tion of Stormberg and Naauwpoort, as he considered 
the frontier line too weak and too much extended. 



58 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

It is understood, however, " that Naauwpoort will be 
occupied again as soon as the advance from Queens- 
town is ordered. 

Strong bids are being made by the Boers for the 
support of the Cape Dutch, but without much success, 
although it is believed that the Dutch farmers, especially 
in Picquetberg district, are armed with Mausers, and 
are watching the course of events before joining the 
Boers. 

From Stormberg it is reported that the Free State 
forces are working slowly toward Dordrecht, with a 
view of attacking Queen st own, and cutting off the 
towns in the northern districts of Cape Colony. 

The wounded are recovering in a remarkable manner. 
The Mauser wounds are small, and heal quickly. Many 
of the wounded apply for permission to return to the 
front. 

November i^. It is reported from Delagoa Bay that 
Lady smith was subjected to a very heavy bombardment 
all day, on the 14th, and that at midnight all the cannon 
on the hills surrounding the town opened fire simultane- 
ously, pouring shells from all points of the compass. 
Several buildings were on fire, and could be distinctly 
seen from Bulwana hill. 

November 75. Lieut. Winston Churchill, of the 4th 
Hussars, a newspaper correspondent, grandson of the 
late Leonard Jerome, of New York, was captured by 
the Boers near Estcourt, Natal. 

November 16. News comes from Mafeking showing 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 59 

that on November 15th the town was safe. The Boers 
were making trenches, but there was no chance of 
their capturing the place. Their big guns had not 
been heard for two days, and it was supposed that they 
had been withdrawn. More probably they had expended 
their ammunition, and were waiting for more. 

From an official report it was gathered that the 
Orange Free State Burghers are doing their best to 
make the Basuto chief, Joel, take up arms against his 
rival, Jonathan, 

Every one agreed from the beginning of the war that 
this kind of assistance or opposition of the blacks must 
be resolutely excluded. Fortunately, Lerothodi, the 
paramount chief, is a strong man, and is still, it is 
believed, under the influence of Sir Godfrey Lagden, 
who has made herculean efforts to preserve peace. 

The Boers are in easy view of the besieged forces 
at Ladysmith : 

"On the i6th of November the day was deliciously 
fine. The Boers dried their clothes and then began 
a languid bombardment, their rate of fire being pre- 
sumably kept down by the difficulty of carrying ammu- 
nition to the high summits on which their guns were 
placed. One unlucky shrapnel killed a railway guard, 
and wounded three civilians and two natives. The day 
before, a shrapnel bullet took a volunteer, who was asleep 
in his tent, in the spine, and killed him instantly. The 
same morning a shell burst under a room in which 
several officers, including Col. Frank Rhodes, were 



6o FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

about to breakfast. One floor-plank was blown up, and 
stuck in the ceiling. The crockery was smashed. 
Nobody was there, but the officers had breakfast five 
minutes later. The latest eccentricity of the enemy 
was the firing of three rounds from a howitzer at half- 
past seven o'clock last evening. The second missile 
pierced the roof of the Royal Hotel. Mr. Stark, a 
naturalist, who was preparing a book on ' The Entomol- 
ogy of Natal,' was standing in the doorway. He was 
hurled into the street, both his legs being torn off. 
He said, ' Look after my cat,' and then died." 




BOER SHARPSHOOTERS ATTACKING AN ARMOURED TRAIN NEAR 
CHIEVELEY. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CAPTURE OF THE ARMOURED TRAIN. 

A T six o'clock on the morning of November 15th 
■^^- an armoured train left Estcourt for Chieveley. It 
consisted of, first, and in advance of the engine, a flat 
car on which was a /-pounder gun, manned by a 
petty officer and five sailors from her Majesty's ship 
Tartar. Following the flat car was an armour-plated 
engine and tender, behind which were two armour-plated 
trucks, and, bringing up the rear, was another flat car. 

On board were about fifty men of the Dublin Fusi- 
liers, and forty of the Durban Light Infantry. Captain 
Haldane, of the Gordon Highlanders, Lieut. Winston 
Churchill, of the Hussars, and other officers were in 
charge of the men. 

On arriving beyond the summit of the line near Frere, 
the train ran forward to Chieveley, where a body of the 
enemy was seen. The wires were tapped, and messages 
received ordering the train to come back. It was return- 
ing smartly up the grade when the enemy opened a can- 
nonade at a range of about two thousand yards. The 
Boers also had tilted a rail, and a shell struck the 

foremost truck at the moment of passing this defect. 

61 



62 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Instantly two trucks were overturned and the third was 
derailed. Several men were severely injured. 

While the train was thus helpless the British soldiers 
were brought into line, facing the Boers, who were now 
firing shot and shell. 

Captain Haldane and Lieutenant Churchill showed 
themselves brave even to recklessness. Summoning 
the track hands, and such of the railway crew as 
were able to do duty, these two officers absolutely 
cleared the track while the soldiers and sailors held 
the Boers in check. The blue-jackets fired the 
7-pounder as rapidly as it could be reloaded, serv- 
ing it with great spirit, although it was by compari- 
son with the enemy's guns no more than a toy. 
Three shells were sent with deadly aim into the 
massed ranks of the Boers, and then it was shattered 
by the enemy's fire. 

Meanwhile the locomotive was literally driven through 
the wreckage, pulling at this obstruction and pushing 
at that, until the way was clear. Encouraged by the 
example of the officers, the men had worked like he- 
roes in clearing the line, regarding not the shot which 
hummed above their heads like angry bees. Once the 
locomotive could be used, the wounded were put on 
board, completely filling the cab and tender, and it was 
run swiftly back to Estcourt for reinforcements. 

Seventy-five or eighty Britishers remained to hold the 
Boers in check, and the brave fellows never flinched 
when, as the engine was steaming away, the enemy 



CAPTURE OF THE ARMOURED TRAIN. 63 

redoubled his fire from a Maxim and two 9-pounders, 
getting the range accurately. 

The fire was so severe that telegraph wires and poles 
were destroyed. The Boer guns were posted on a 
kopje covered with brushwood, and their sharpshooters 
were hidden behind boulders. The Dublins and volun- 
teers, fighting an unequal battle, thrice drove the enemy 
back ; but the fierceness of the rifle and big gun fire 
was too much for the brave little party, which was 
weakened at the outset by the overturning of the 
trucks, when several were injured. 

As the train came back from Estcourt under a flag 
of truce, the brave fellows, having capitulated when it 
was found useless to struggle longer, had been carried 
away prisoners, and with them those who were wounded 
during the fight. Three officers and ninety men were 
thus missing. 

A heavy rain, accompanied by mist, had begun to 
fall, and, as was afterward learned, the little force of 
British had not surrendered until it was no longer 
possible for them to see the enemy. 

Lieut. Winston Churchill is of the 4th Hussars, and 
acted as newspaper correspondent. He is a grandson 
of Leonard Jerome, of New York. 

The armoured locomotive afforded good proof that the 
Boers' fire was exceedingly heavy. It was covered with 
indentations and rifle-balls ; its dome-cover was smashed, 
as also was its automatic exhaust pipe and twenty-five-ton 
screw-jack. The tender was pitted with bullet marks. 



64 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

A London correspondent, writing from Estcourt, con- 
cludes that " Natal is the least suitable of all countries 
for armoured trains," and adds : "Besides, those we have 
are poorly extemporised affairs, though the best, perhaps, 
that could be done in a hurry. Imagine a few five- 
eighths-inch boiler-plates placed around the engine, and 
flat bogie trucks boxed around seven feet high with sim- 
ilar sheets of iron or steel, roughly loopholed, — the 
whole painted khaki, — and you have the armoured train. 
There being no doorways, to get inside one of those 
oblong iron boxes, which are quite uncovered at the 
top, you have to clamber up as best you can, gripping 
the loopholes and exterior fastenings. Egress has to be 
made in the same manner. They are all right against 
rifle-fire, except when in a cutting or passing under a 
hill, when an enemy might have you at his mercy by 
firing down into the open-topped trucks. It is a well- 
known lesson, also, that an armoured train, except in an 
absolutely flat country, is unsuited for scouting or at- 
tack unless backed and flanked by a friendly force of 
cavalry and guns. Our armoured trains here are 
unprovided with Maxims or cannon." 



CHAPTER VII. 

NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 

1\J0VEMBER ly. The latest despatches from 
Estcourt regarding the armed-train engagement 
say that the train was capsized by an explosion, pre- 
sumably dynamite. The engine returned to Estcourt 
with two dead Fusiliers, and the following wounded 
hanging on : Captain Wylie, three non-commissioned 
officers, and nine privates, all belonging to the Durban 
volunteers. 

The Boers are hurrying new commanders to Lady- 
smith, and are declaring that the place must fall speed- 
ily, in order to liberate their forces, so that these may 
go to meet General Buller's advance. 

It is officially stated that arrangements for the relief 
of Ladysmith have been completed. General Buller 
has gone up country. 

A Boer contingent of three hundred men appeared 
south of Frere on the 15th, and two companies of 
mounted troops. Imperial Light Horse and Natal Car- 
bineers engaged them eight miles from Estcourt. The 
Boers occupied a strong position on a kopje. The Carbi- 
neers worked around on their right and drove the enemy 

65 



66 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

back, whereupon the Imperial Light Horse opened a 
brisk fire at a medium range, killing several. One 
man of the Imperial Light Horse was wounded. 

Rumours are current in the Natal capital that the 
Boers contemplate a retreat. It is needless, however, 
to attach importance to such reports, which are spread, 
in all probability, with a view of luring General White, 
if possible, to abandon his defensive attitude. Similar 
rumours are current regarding the Boers at Mafeking, 
and are spread industriously by native spies. 

According to a special despatch from Lorenzo Mar- 
quez. General Lucas Meyer has gone to Pretoria for 
his health. Moreover, a difference of opinion exists 
among the commanders. The Boer military council 
wants the army moved elsewhere, but General Joubert 
insists that Ladysmith must fall first. 

The West Yorkshire regiment, the " Prince of Wales's 
Own," commanded by Colonel Kitchener, brother of 
Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, has arrived at Estcourt 
from Durban. The troops there " sleep in their boots," 
and the utmost vigilance is maintained. It is rumoured 
that some important movement is imminent. 

November i8. A special despatch from Estcourt, 
dated to-day, says : " All is quiet here. The enemy is 
believed to be encamped six miles away. Our position 
is good, and our forces are sufificiently strong to repulse 
an attack." 

Julian Ralph, writing from Orange River, recurs to 
the subject of khaki colour : "South Africa looks now 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 67 

as if it were the dust-bin of creation. Its ground is 
loose dust. Its air is flying dust. Its vegetation, ani- 
mals, and insects are nearly all of different shades of 
dust colour. As I write, the men are dissolving mud 
in their pails and dipping brushes in it to paint their 
white straps mud colour. Every pouch, and strap, and 
cloth-covered water-bottle that would show white or 
dark is undergoing this treatment. The drummers are 
doing the same with their drums, — painting the white 
tightening-cords with mud, muddying over the golden 
lions and unicorns and the gaudy regimental mottoes, so 
that everything shall look like the veldt, — so that we 
shall be as dusty as the country. While ' Tommy ' 
is wholly and solely earthlike in tone, his officers differ 
from him in wearing shiny buttons, stars, crowns, and 
sword-hilts, and pipe-clayed belts and straps. In this 
difference has lain the danger of all in battle in this 
campaign, and from it has come the death of far too 
many. All alike recognise this, yet how differently 
they discussed the proposal to have the officers dress 
like the men. The ' Tommies ' are all in favour of the 
change, though it would greatly increase their own dan- 
ger and losses. They are enthusiastic for having the 
officers doff swords, carry light carbines, and do away 
with their ornaments. They discuss the mortality 
above the ranks with bated breath, as a thing alto- 
gether awful. With the officers the subject is differ- 
ently treated. Some discuss the prospect of disguising 
themselves as if it were a thing to be considered only for 



68 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the sake of deceiving an unfair foe, and gaining a point 
that way. Others indignantly spurn the idea as un- 
dignified and unworthy." 

November ig. The general commanding at Pieter- 
maritzburg telegraphed at 9.35 o'clock last night : 
" To-day, at 8 p.m., the officer commanding our northern 
outpost reported that the enemy's mounted patrol were 
advancing across the whole country, from Gourtona 
road to Ulandi, moving on Est court. My force stood 
to arms. The outposts reported various bodies, from 
five hundred to seven hundred strong, advancing on 
Estcourt from a northwesterly direction. One party, 
five hundred strong, moved toward the railway bridge, 
half a mile to the northwest of Estcourt. 

" Our outposts fired on the enemy, and one of the 
naval guns fired a shell at eight thousand yards' range, 
the shell bursting close to the enemy, and they hurriedly 
retired. 

" At twelve o'clock reports were received from three 
pickets that a large number of Boers were in sight on a 
hill above Leslie's homestead. The troops have returned 
to camp." 

Last Thursday a combined force of Free State and 
Transvaal Burghers occupied Colesberg, Cape Colony, 
without opposition by the residents, and proclaimed the 
district to be Free State territory. 

The Boers occupied Burghersdorp Tuesday, and it is 
believed that they were then on the way to seize Storm- 
berg Junction. 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 69 

The British troop-ship Manila has arrived at Durban. 

Our last news from Lady smith said all well. 

An old message, dated November 19th, just arrived, 
begins: "Joubert has explained firing on our (Red 
Cross) flag, previously reported. Have accepted ex- 
planation as satisfactory. Lieutenant Lethbridge, rifle 
brigade, died of wounds. Others wounded generally 
doing well. Health of troops good. Six wounded 
Dubhn Fusiliers, captured on armoured train south of 
Colenso, sent here to-day." 

November 2^. General Hildyard, moving out from 
Estcourt to-day, made a successful attack, with three 
battalions, one field-battery, a naval gun, and seven 
hundred mounted troops, on the enemy occupying 
Beacon Hill, which dominates William Grange and 
had interrupted his communication. As a result of the 
operations the enemy is retiring, and the railway and 
telegraph lines have been restored between Estcourt 
and Weston. Our loss was fifteen killed and seventy- 
two wounded. Major Hobbs, of the West Yorkshire 
regiment, was captured, and several men are missing. 

General Hildyard has advanced to a position near 
Frere, as he hopes to cut off the enemy, who is be- 
lieved to be retiring on Colenso, via Weenen. General 
Barton, from Weston, has advanced to Estcourt. 

Lord Methuen has fought at Belmont to-day. Save 
that the British drove the enemy back, and in so doing 
lost 298 in killed, wounded, and missing, no particu- 
lars have been received. 



70 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Major William A. Simpson, U. S. A., chief of the 
military information bureau, writing of the situation 
in Natal, says : 

*' The situation in Natal is a most peculiar one. Sir 
George White, with probably about nine thousand 
troops, is still at Lady smith. The Boers have been 
unable to destroy his force or capture the position. 
General Hildyard is in command at Estcourt, about 
thirty-five miles south of Ladysmith. The exact 
number of his force is unknown, but it is probably 
not more than two thousand. There is no communi- 
cation between him and General White, and now the 
Boers have cut his communications to the south. 

"About twenty miles southeast of Estcourt, the rail- 
road crosses the Mooi River. Here is a British camp, 
which the Boers have been shelling. Now they have 
worked around to the south, and are said to be threat- 
ening Pietermaritzburg, about forty miles southeast of 
the Mooi River crossing. 

" We have then the curious spectacle of three British 
detachments along the line of the railroad, each holding 
its own, but cut off from all communication with the 
outside world. General Clery is in command of the 
relief expedition, numbering about nine thousand men, 
which has not yet begun its advance. The British seem 
to be deficient in cavalry, and the Boers, in small 
mounted parties, swarm over the country at their own 
sweet will, cutting the telegraph wires, looting, and run- 
ning off stock. 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 7 1 

" A prompt and successful advance on the part of 
General Clery would at once relieve the situation, and 
every moment is precious. When his forward move- 
ment will begin, the reports do not state. If he succeeds 
in relieving the different beleaguered commands in re- 
turn, while yet intact, he will have a united force at his 
command which should give him control of the situation 
in Natal. 

" In the west, the British seem to have done very well. 
Mafeking and Kimberley have been isolated almost from 
the beginning, but they have been vigorously defended, 
successful sorties have been made, and the reports indi- 
cate the garrisons in good condition and fine spirits. 

" The lines advance from the south, as has been fore- 
told, namely from East London, in the direction of 
Bloemfontein, and along the western border toward Kim- 
berley. Thirty-seven thousand men of Buller's corps 
have already arrived, and the remainder should not be 
long behind. Deducting the relief force sent into Natal 
via Durban, this would leave about forty thousand for 
the two columns engaged in the main forward move- 
ment, and decisive results should soon be looked for. 

" Lord Methuen is near Belmont, on the west, with 
about thirteen thousand men, and this force should go 
forward via Kimberley without much trouble. Gen- 
eral Gatacre, in command of the troops moving toward 
the southern boundary of the Orange Free State, has 
at present probably not more than five thousand men, 
and his efforts will probably be restricted, until his 



72 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

force is considerably increased, to clearing the country 
in northern Cape Colony. Then he will be ready for 
a forward movement on Bloemfontein. 

" Superiority in numbers on the part of the British in 
their northward movement would enable them to do as 
Sherman did in his march to the sea — hold the enemy 
in front, and have sufficient force left to turn their flanks 
and force them to abandon their position without assaults. 

" Had the Boers only the numbers they were credited 
with at the beginning of the campaign, it would look 
like a walkover for the British. An advance on the 
Boer capital with largely superior forces would naturally 
draw off the Boers from Natal for the defence of their 
homes, and the now besieged British in Natal would be 
in a position to make it very unpleasant for them. 

" It was stated in a previous article that if the Boers 
were successful in Natal it would give them great pres- 
tige and bring to the ranks large accessions from British 
South Africa. This seems to have been the case, as it 
is reported that large numbers from Natal and Cape 
Colony have joined their ranks. Without knowledge of 
the extent to which the Boer forces have been so rein- 
forced, and with no means of determining their present 
strength, it would be rash to make any prediction as to 
the result of the military operations about to take place." 

November 2^. Lord Methuen has fought a second 
battle in his advance on Kimberley, this time at Graspan 
Station, or Enslin. It is reported that the British have 
lost 198 in killed, wounded, and missing. 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 73 

,. In the fight at Belmont on the 23d, eighty-one Boer 
killed are accounted for. Sixty-four wagons were burned. 
A large quantity of powder, fifty thousand rounds of am- 
munition, and 750 shells were blown up. Commander 
Albrecht, chief of the Orange Free State artillery, com- 
manded the Boer artillery. General Bolewy was in chief 
command. 

November 26. The governor of Natal has just tele- 
graphed : 

"The Boers are retiring on Weenen. Our troops are 
occupying a ridge three miles northward of the Mooi 
River. It appears that the Boers have found our posi- 
tion too strong, and are retiring toward Ladysmith with 
the loot they have collected. The river is in flood." 

The railroad bridge at Frere, spanning a wide stream, 
has been destroyed by the Boers, who are reported to 
be retiring rapidly. 

A general advance upon Colenso has been ordered, 
and a flying column has left Estcourt to intercept the 
Boer raiding parties. 

A reliable messenger from Ladysmith says he gath- 
ered from the Boers that they had proposed a combined 
attack all over the country for to-day. 

General Joubert is expected to stoutly dispute the 
passage of the Tugela River. 

Despatches from President Kruger and General Jou- 
bert, found on a Boer prisoner, state that the Boer 
losses at Belmont were ten men killed and forty 
wounded. The Joubert despatch added, in order to 



74 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

reassure the Burghers, that it had been deemed 
necessary to fall back on Warrenton. 

A pigeon message from Colonels Ian Hamilton and 
Duff at Ladysmith, undated, reports all well. 

Another naval contingent from the British first-class 
cruiser Teirible, with two 4-7-inch guns, started for the 
front to-night. 

The situation in Natal has improved. The British 
advance in force to the relief of Ladysmith has not yet 
begun, but the Boers have fallen back. Communication 
with this port is open, and the Mooi River force has 
moved to Estcourt. The British relieving army will 
have a difficult task in forcing a passage over the 
Tugela River, where the enemy is likely to make its 
first great stand. Generals Gatacre and French do not 
seem to make much progress. 

November 2^. The rising of the Cape Dutch appears 
to be spreading. The railway and telegraph between 
Stormberg and Staynsburg have been cut. Staynsburg 
lies on the railway line from Stormberg to Rosemead 
Junction. The Boers are not in any force in this quar- 
ter, but there is a strong command at Arundel Kop, con- 
fronting General French, This is likely to be attacked 
soon by the troops available. Barkley East has been 
occupied by the Boers. 

General Methuen has captured Honey Nest Kloof, 
ten miles north of Graspan, and two million rounds of 
ammunition. 

To General Methuen, it appears, belongs the honour 



NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BULLETINS. 75 

of the first real British victory of the present war, as 
Belmont was the first battle after which the British 
advanced instead of retreating. The fact that General 
Methuen was forced to fight a second pitched battle 
near the scene of the first shows the Boers were not 
demoralised at Belmont, but quickly rallied, and with 
the utmost courage met the splendid assault of the Brit- 
ish naval brigade at Graspan. The excellent military 
qualities displayed by the Boers in these two fights were 
no doubt partially derived from the training of Comman- 
dant Albrecht, a former officer of the Austrian army. 

Presumably General Methuen has already resumed 
his march northward. When last heard from definitely 
he was still nearly fifty miles from Kimberley, and 
doubtless an action will have to be fought at Modder 
River before " Diamondopolis " is relieved. 

November 28. It is reported that General Methuen 
fought the third battle of the advance to-day at Modder 
River, with a loss of 438 killed, wounded, and missing. 

Dundonald's mounted force, accompanied by four 
guns, went in pursuit of a body of Boers returning to 
Colenso. They followed the Boers to within two and 
one-half miles of Colenso, when the Boers replied to 
the British shells with long-range guns. There were 
no casualties. 

November 2g. The Colenso bridge has been de- 
stroyed by the Boers. 

A revised list of the casualties sustained by General 
Hildyard's forces at Beacon Hill shows : Killed, thir- 



76 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

teen; wounded, sixty-four; missing, one; prisoners, 

eight. 

November jo. At Ladysmith, yesterday, a shrapnel- 
shell pierced the roof of the hospital, falling among 
the sick and wounded inmates. One man was killed, 
and seven wounded. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

methuen's advance toward kimberley. 

The Battle of Belmont. 

'' I ^HE theatre of the war was shifted to the southern 
-*■ and western side of the Orange Free State when 
Lord Methuen, with his splendid flying column of nearly 
ten thousand men, began the advance toward Kimberley 
from Belmont. 

Belmont lies fifty-six miles south of the city Lord 
Methuen counted on relieving, and in front of the 
British army, on the range of hills running north and 
south, was the Boer position, extending two miles or 
more, held by a commando of about four thousand 
men. The enemy was disposed on four rocky hills, 
which at first glance seemed impregnable. 

Lord Methuen's force left the Belmont farm at three 
o'clock on the morning of November 23d, marching in 
almost perfect silence until daybreak, when, while the 
Britishers were yet in the open, the Boer fire was 
begun. 

Following is the official report of a most desperate 
encounter, when both Britons and Boers fought with 
more than usual bravery : 

77 



78 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

"Attacked the enemy at daybreak this morning. 
He was in strong position. Three ridges were carried 
in succession, the last attack being prepared by 
shrapnel. Infantry behaved splendidly, and received 
support from the naval brigade and artillery. The 
enemy fought with courage and skill. Had I attacked 
later, I should have had far heavier losses. 

" Our victory was complete. Have taken forty priso- 
ners. Am burying a good number of the Boers, but 
the greater part of the enemy's killed and wounded 
were removed by their comrades. Have captured a 
large number of horses and cows, and destroyed a large 
quantity of ammunition. 

" Brigadier-General Fetherstonhaugh was severely 
wounded in the shoulder, and Lieutenant-Colonel Crabbe, 
of the Grenadier Guards, was reported wounded." 

A revised list of the British casualties at Belmont 
shows : 

Officers killed, four, wounded, twenty-two ; non-com- 
missioned officers and privates, killed, forty-six, wounded, 
226, of which number the Guards had thirty- five killed 
and 159 wounded. 

Julian Ralph, in his account of this battle, adds to 
the list of casualties the wounding of E. F. Knight, 
special correspondent of the London Post, and thus 
describes the appearance of the British soldiers : 

" I went upon the field with the King's Own York- 
shire Light Infantry, and a description of the manner 
in which they went into action will serve as illustrating 



METHUEN S ADVANCE TOWARD KIMBERLEY. 79 

the course pursued by all the forces except the naval 
brigade. 

"The privates were, as I have already described 
them to you, with dulled buttons, muddied straps and 
belts and pouches, and with the handles and scabbards 
of their bayonets painted khaki colour. But on this 
morning, for the first time in their lives, perhaps for 
the first time in British history, the officers threw aside 
their swords and put on the accoutrements of privates, 
even to their rifles. Thus I saw Colonel Barter, of the 
Yorkshires, stride off with his battalion, and thus he 
led them into the hell's rain of lead, obeying the letter 
of the new regulation by an attempt at disguise which 
took no note of his towering and athletic figure or his 
natural pose and manner of command. Thus dressed 
I also saw the gallant commander of the Grenadier 
Guards lying in the broiling sun, propped against a 
rock, wounded, and telling the ambulance men to look 
after his gashed and blood-stained men who lay around 
him among: the rocks." 



TJie Battle of Graspan. 

Two days after the engagement at Belmont, word was 
received from Cape Town to the following effect : 

Lord Methuen gained a free victory over the enemy 
to-day, November 25th, at the Graspan hills, defeating 
a body of twenty-five hundred Boers, who were block- 
ing his advance to Kimberley. As Graspan is only ten 



8o FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

miles north of Belmont, apparently the British general 
finds nearly every step of his way disputed by the foe, 
which does not know when it is beaten. It accepts a 
reverse only as an opportunity for another effort. 

Lord Methuen reports that he moved at 3.30 a. m., 
with the 9th Brigade, the mounted corps, the Naval 
Brigade and two batteries, the guards following with the 
baggage. Near Graspan, about ten miles north of 
Belmont, on the railway line to Kiraberley, twenty-five 
hundred Boers, with ^six guns and two machine-guns, 
opposed him. 

The action began at 6 a. m. The British batteries 
fired shrapnel very accurately till the heights seemed 
clear. Then the naval brigade and infantry advanced to 
the assault. The fighting was desperate until 10 a. m., 
when the heights were carried. The Boers retreated on 
the line where the 9th Lancers were placed to inter- 
cept them. The artillery took immediate advantage of 
the enemy's retirement. 

Early in the action five hundred Boers attacked the 
British rear-guard. The brigade met this, and also pro- 
tected the flanks. The naval brigade acted with the 
greatest gallantry, and suffered heavily. 

The Boers showed the greatest stubbornness and 
suffered greatly. Twenty were buried. It is known 
that thirty-one were killed and forty-eight wotinded. 
More than fifty horses were found dead in one place. 
One battery fired five hundred rounds. 

It was necessary for the British force to halt one 



methuen's advance toward KIMBERLEY. 8 1 

day at Graspan to rest and replenish ammunition. The 
naval brigade, the Royal Marines, and light infantry and 
the first battalion of the North Lancashire regiment 
especially distinguished themselves. 

The British loss in killed, wounded, and missing is 
given at 198 officers and privates. 

A report from Pretoria regarding the battle states : 

"The Boers successfully retreated. The Lancers 
attempted to intercept and reach them, but a severe 
fire, opened from a kopje, forced the Lancers to retreat. 
General Cronje was with the Boers. Among the Boer 
prisoners are Alderman Jeppe and Commandant Rossik, 
who led the Boer force." 

One of the English correspondents heads his com- 
munication with this explanation as to the confusion of 
names which has arisen concerning the location : 

" The battle of Graspan is called ' Enslin ' officially by 
the army, and ' Royslaagte ' by the Boers, but the word 
' Graspan ' is painted on the railway station sign-board 
beside the position occupied by our left, and so strongly 
has the name taken root already that I use no other 
name in treating of that fight." 

Battle of Modder River. 

The British force under Lord Methuen, who were 
striving to the utmost of human endurance in the effort 
to relieve their besieged countrymen at Ladysmith, had 
fought two battles in five days, and at evening on the 



82 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

27th of November encamped near a large pond for a 
twelve hours' rest. 

At 4 o'clock next morning the ten thousand men, or, 
more properly speaking, all left alive of those who set 
out from Belmont on the 23d, resumed the march over 
the dry veldt, where water was oftentimes more precious 
than anything save life itself. 

Three hours later, that is to say, about seven o'clock 
on the morning of November 28th, the Boers gave token 
of their proximity by opening fire from the opposite 
side of the Modder, which river as yet remained hidden 
from view of the advancing column. An Irish lad, a 
veteran of three wars, who was with General Methuen 
at Modder River, wrote to his sister, who resides in Fall 
River, Massachusetts, regarding the terrible engagement 
with the Boers at Modder River. He says : 

" It was expected that the crossing of the Modder 
River would be an easy task for the men under General 
Methuen, but we never crossed it. As we moved for- 
ward, the Scotch brigade had the right of line, the 
Highlanders singing lustily, ' One Wide River to Cross.' 
For a time we met no opposition, no Boers coming in 
sight, and the mountain-battery and entrenchments 
which we expected to meet could not be seen. Sud- 
denly a troop of Boer cavalry appeared, apparently the 
vanguard of a much larger body, whose intentions were 
to charge our troops. The officers ordered square for- 
mations, to meet the supposed attack, but the Boers 
galloped away when the formation was complete, and 



methuen's advance toward kimberley. 83 

a terrible hail of solid shot and shell was hurled at the 
British soldiers from concealed mountain-batteries on 
the hills above the British army. 

"Our men were slaughtered like pigs in a pen, and 
in a short time our formation was broken and we were 
running for shelter. Our officers rallied us, and, with 
the reserve, we marched forward to the attack again, 
with some artillery, but were driven back again and 
again, the Boer fire being extraordinarily effective, while 
our shell-fire fell short and our infantry aim was inaccu- 
rate. Officers and men fought heroicall}^ but with 
no avail ; for hours we lay with our faces to the 
ground, with the terrible hail of bullet and shell flying 
over us. Once we were ordered to renew the attack, 
but none of us dared to face the fire of the Boers 
again. It was an awful scene. Men were cursing 
and praying alternately. I was in Abyssinia, on the 
Nile, and in the Soudan, but never saw such warfare 
before. 

" Methuen was carried to the rear, wounded in the 
thigh. Word came from his quarters to the men, 'For 
the sake of their God, their country, and their queen, to 
hold their places until nightfall, when they might re- 
treat in order and with honour.' They tried to obey, 
but finally retreated two miles, in disorder, leaving dead 
and dying behind, cursing with dying breath the names 
of Rhodes and Chamberlain. When beyond range, we 
formed in order and retired to the camp we left so 
buoyantly the night before." 



84 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

General Methuen's official report is as follows : 

" MoDDER River, Tuesday, November 28th. — Rec- 
onnoitred at 5 A. M. enemy's position on river Modder, 
and found them strongly entrenched and concealed. 
No means of outflanking, the river being full. Action 
commenced with artillery, mounted infantry, and cav- 
alry at 5.30. Guards on right, 9th Brigade on left. 
Attacked position in widely extended formation at 6.30, 
and, supported by the artillery, found myself in front of 
a whole Boer force, eight thousand strong, with two 
large guns, four Krupps, etc. 

"The naval brigade rendered great assistance from 
the railway, 

"After desperate, hard fighting, which lasted ten 
hours, our men, without water or food, and in a burning 
sun, made the enemy quit his position. 

" General Pole-Carew was successful in getting a 
small party across the river, gallantly assisted by three 
hundred sappers. 

"I speak in terms of high praise of the conduct of 
all who were engaged in one of the hardest and most 
trying fights in the annals of the British army. If I 
can mention one arm particularly, it is two batteries of 
artillery, 

"The battle was the bloodiest of the century. We 
shelled the enemy and the result was terrible." 

The official hst of the British killed amounted to 438. 



CHAPTER IX. 

DECEMBER NEWS ITEMS. 

T^ECEMBER i. The following despatch was sent 
"^^^ by General Forestier- Walker to the War Office 
.to-day : 

" General Gatacre reports no change in the situation. 

" General French has made a reconnoissance from 
Nauwpoort to Rosemead. The troops returned to-day. 

"General Methuen's flesh-wound is slight. He is 
remaining at Modder River for the reconstruction of 
the bridge. Am reinforcing him with Highlanders and 
a cavalry corps. Horse artillery, the Canadian regiment, 
Australian contingents, and three battalions of infantry 
moved up to the De Aar and Belmont line." 

The Canadian marksmen and other reinforcements 
have been pushed forward to the neighbourhood of the 
Orange River, to protect General Methuen's line of 
communication. 

Prisoners taken by the British have been sent to 
Simon's Bay, and put on board the prison-hulk Pene- 
lope. Their friends at the Cape take full advantage of 
the permission accorded them, and there is quite a 
crowd of visitors each day to the Penelope. At the 

85 



86 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

stern of the vessel floats the white ensign, and on the 
fore and aft bridges a couple of blue-jackets are on 
sentry with loaded rifles. The deck presents a motley 
scene. The prisoners and their friends stand about in 
groups, absorbed in conversation. Those who have no 
friends lounge about the deck smoking. Some are 
playing quoits, while others are busy making purchases 
from the Indian hawkers, who drive a thriving trade. 
The prisoners are dressed in a variety of costumes ; 
many of them are neatly attired in well-cut tweed suits, 
while others, with their clumsy garments, ungainly 
veldschoen, and broad slouch hats, present the appear- 
ance of hailing from the back-veldt, although, as a 
matter of fact, nearly all of them come from the Rand 
or its immediate vicinity. Between themselves and 
their friends conversation is carried on in Dutch, but, 
on accosting them in English, one is astonished to find 
how large a proportion of them not only speak English, 
but speak it fluently and with a less-pronounced accent 
than is to be heard among Afrikanders in Cape Colony, 
and even in Cape Town itself. Generally speaking, 
the prisoners by no means convey the idea of the back- 
veldt Transvaal, although here and there are to be seen 
men who have evidently come straight from the country. 
December 2. The latest news from Natal indicates 
that the bulk of the Ladysmith relief force has arrived 
at Frere, though there is considerable conjecture as to 
the whereabouts of General Clery, whose movements 
have not been chronicled recently. It is surmised in 



DECEMBER NEWS ITEMS. Sj 

some quarters that he may reappear in a totally unex- 
pected quarter, on the flank or rear of General Joubert's 
force, which is supposed to be concentrated at Grobler's 
Kloof, north of the Tugela River. As General Hild- 
yard's advance-guard was in touch with the Boers as 
long ago as Tuesday last, developments should not be 
long delayed. 

December 5. General Buller and his staff have 
started for the front from Pietermaritzburg, and assumed 
direct control of the British Natal army, with head- 
quarters at F'rere camp. Including the colonial levies, 
his forces of all arms have reached probably nearly 
thirty thousand men. The immediate effect of the 
arrival of the army troops from England in Natal was 
the withdrawal of the Boers from the south of the 
Tugela River. They made raids over the Colenso 
bridges, and, crossing the river farther to the west, 
descended into the heart of Natal by the Weenen road, 
getting down to Estcourt. As they retreated they 
ravaged the country as much as possible. The bridge 
at Frere was destroyed, and it took several days for 
the British engineers to replace it with a trestle bridge. 

December 6. Yesterday a sortie was made from 
Kimberley in the direction of Carter's farm. The 
British were commanded by Col. Scott Turner, who 
was killed while leading an attack upon the Boer laager. 
In addition, the British lost twenty-two killed and twenty- 
eight wounded. 

It is reported officially that the total casualties at 



88 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Ladysmith since November ist are five officers and 
twenty-six men killed ; fifteen officers and 1 30 men 
wounded ; three missing. 

December 8. A column of Light Horse and Natal 
volunteers, supported by British regular cavalry, sallied 
out from Ladysmith last night under the command of 
General Sir Archibald Hunter. They attacked a gun 
on a hill near Lombard's Kop, carried the position, blew 
up the Boer guns, including a 6-inch Creusot piece and 
one howitzer, and captured a Maxim-Nordenfeldt quick- 
firing gun. 

A naval 4.7-inch gun, firing a 52-pound shell, 
charged with lyddite, was taken out with an escort 
beyond the British outposts at Modder River this 
morning. It made very good practice at the Boer 
lines, seven thousand yards distant. 

The trestle bridge at Frere is completed, and the 
front has been advanced to Chieveley. 

December g. A force of one thousand Boers attacked 
two companies of the 2d Northamptonshire regiment, 
which had been left to guard the line of communi- 
cation at Graspan. General Methuen, from his camp 
at Modder River, sent the 12th Lancers and the 
Seaforth Highlanders, together with the 62d Field 
Battery, to their assistance. The Boers attacked the 
British post at 7.30 a. m., but withdrew at eleven 
o'clock, when the reinforcements approached the scene. 
The British loss was one killed and six wounded. 

Although Ladysmith may be able to bold out, at any 



DECEMBER NEWS ITEMS. 89 

cost, for another month, there is no time to lose, how- 
ever, in bringing relief, if relief is to come at all. Other- 
wise, the effective strength of Sir George White's com- 
mand will be so seriously reduced as to make it of little 
use in the future. 

December 10. General Gatacre has been defeated at 
Stormberg Junction. Over five hundred British have 
been taken prisoners. 

December 11. A battle is being fought by General 
Methuen at Magersfontein. It is the fourth general 
engagement since the advance to Kimberley was begun. 

The most serious aspect of General Gatacre's defeat 
at Stormberg yesterday is the effect it is likely to have 
on the Dutch in this colony, who have been wavering 
as to whether to throw in their lot with the Boers. 
Hosts of the Northern farmers are now likely to join 
the rebellion. 

The defeat is also serious because it will delay the 
junction of General Gatacre with General French at 
Naauwpoort. The plan was for their combined forces 
to relieve the pressure on Lord Methuen's column. 

The disclosure of such a strong force at Stormberg 
was quite unexpected. Doubtless General Gatacre was 
the victim of treacherous guides. But the result points 
also to the absence of proper cavalry scouting. 

December 12. The battle at Magersfontein was not 
brought to a finish until to-day. The British loss is 
roughly estimated at 963 in killed, wounded, and 
missing. 



C)Q FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

General Forestier-Walker telegraphed to the War 
Office to-day : " Methuen wires that General Wauchope 
was killed in action yesterday." 

General Wauchope, of the Black Watch, commanded the High- 
land brigade with General Methuen's column. He served in 
Ashantee, Egypt, and the Soudan. He twice contested Midlo- 
thian, once against Mr. Gladstone. He was a great favourite in 
the army. 

Last night Colonel Metcalfe and five hundred of 
the 2d Rifle Brigade went out from Lady smith to 
capture a Boer howitzer on a hill. They reached 
the crest without being discovered, drove off the 
enemy, and then destroyed the howitzer with gun- 
cotton. 

When returning, Metcalfe found his retirement barred 
by the Boers, but he forced his way through, using the 
bayonet freely. The Boer losses were considerable. 
The British losses were : Lieutenant Ferguson and 
eleven, men killed ; Captain Foley, Second Lieutenant 
Davenport, Second Lieutenant Bond, and forty-one men 
wounded ; six men captured, who had remained behind 
in charge of the wounded. 

December ij. General French reports a skirmish at 
four o'clock this morning with eighteen hundred Boers 
who were advancing southward toward Naauwpoort. 
The skirmishing continued all the morning, the Boers 
fighting on a front of fourteen miles. The enemy re- 
tired with a loss of forty killed and wounded. 



k 




H^B' 


^KT' 'S^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 


|ir^ 


K^H 


■ ^^^^^^^^^^ 


IhI 


^^^^B ill ViMr"^^^^ 




^^HiHI 


^^^^^^^^Bkt^ .r , ,'J^^S||^^^^^^^^^H 


H 


^^^KI^I^I^^^^H 



PORTRAIT OF THE HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. 



DECEMBER NEWS ITEMS. 9 1 

The second battalion of the Coldstream Guards has 
lost one of its majors in the Marquis of Winchester. 

Augustus John Paulet was the fifteenth marquis of his family, 
and ranked as the premier marquis of England, the creation dat- 
ing from 1551. The first Marquis of Winchester was lord treas- 
urer of England during the reigns of King Edward VI. and 
Queens Mary and Elizabeth. 

The officer who has been killed was unmarried, and the title, 
with the estates of Amport Park, Hampshire, passes to his brother, 
Henry William Montague. It will pass, through his daughter, to 
the Wemyss family, of County Fife. 

December Tzf.. Winston Churchill, the newspaper cor- 
respondent and former officer of the 4th Hussars, who 
was captured by the Boers at the time of the armoured 
train disaster near Estcourt, November 15th, has escaped 
from Pretoria. 

December i^, A heavy battle was fought to-day at 
Colenso, when the Boers opposed General Buller's 
attempt to cross the Tugela River. The British were 
repulsed with a loss of 145 killed, 752 wounded, and 
224 missing. The enemy captured eleven heavy guns. 

December 16. More than five hundred British pris- 
oners, captured at the battle of Stormberg, have arrived 
at Pretoria and been taken to Waterfall, to join the 
other prisoners. 

Fifteen transports are due to arrive between Decem- 
ber 17th and January 8th, with about fifteen thousand 
troops of all arms ; but, unless General Buller is able to 
renew the attack at once, which is exceedingly doubtful, 



92 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the British generals will be compelled for another fort- 
night or more to remain practically on the defensive. 

The total British losses during the war, to date, in- 
cluding killed, wounded, and missing, number 7,630. 

December ly. A despatch from Chieveley announces 
the death of Lieutenant the Honourable F. H. S. Rob- 
erts, son of Baron Roberts, of Kandahar and Water- 
ford, who was wounded in the engagement at Tugela 
River. 

Lieutenant Roberts was an only son, and had been his father's 
aide-de-camp until 1895. He served in Waziristan and in the 
Chitral and Nile expeditions. Such was his display of gallantry 
Friday, in an attempt to rescue the guns, that he was recom- 
mended for the Victoria Cross. 

Government officials in Pretoria are greatly chagrined 
by the escape of Winston Churchill. They are doing 
their utmost to discover how he got away, and have 
instituted a house to house search for incriminating 
papers. The Volkstem asserts that he escaped dis- 
guised as a woman. The last book Churchill borrowed 
from the library was " Mills on Liberty." 

December 18. Late last night the following notice 
was posted at the War Office in London : 

"As the campaign in Natal, in the opinion of her 
Majesty's government, is likely to require the presence 
and undivided attention of General Sir Redvers Buller, 
it has been decided to send Baron Roberts, of Kandahar 
and Waterford, as commander-in-chief in South Africa, 
with Lord Kitchener as chief of staff." 



DECEMBER NEWS ITEMS. 93 

Baron Roberts, of Kandahar and Waterford, is at present com- 
mander of the forces in Ireland, and General Lord Kitchener, of 
Khartoum, is in the Soudan. 

December 22. A despatch from Ladysmith states 
that "the Boers have mounted another howitzer on 
Surprise Hill, replacing the gun captured in the sortie 
of rifle brigade. While the Boers watch us nightly with 
a search-light, and bombard the place daily, they show no 
signs of assaulting the town. They probably think they 
can starve us out, but we have plenty of provisions. 
The total casualties since the siege began, are seventy 
men killed and 236 wounded." 

December 2^. Ladysmith has stood two months' 
siege and bombardment ; food and ammunition stores 
are dwindling, and disease is again increasing. The 
strain on the garrison has been, in spite of their pluck 
and stamina, a severe one. How long can they hold 
out .'' It is difficult to say precisely, because after the 
ordinary rations are exhausted, determined men will eat 
horses and rats and beetles, and such like odds and 
ends, and so continue the defence. But another month 
must be the hmit of their endurance, and then, if no 
help comes, Sir George White will have to fire off all his 
ammunition, blow up his heavy guns, burn all wagons 
and equipments, and sally out with a full force in a 
fierce endeavour to escape southward. Perhaps half 
might succeed in reaching our lines, but the rest, less 
the killed and wounded, would be sent to occupy the 
new camp at Waterfall, which has already been laid out 



94 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

— such is the intelhgent anticipation of the enemy — 
for their accommodation. 

December 2^. An official despatch from Mafeking 
announces that in a sortie which the British made 
from that place this forenoon, attacking one of the 
Boer forts with cannon, Maxims, and an armoured 
train, the British lost 109 men killed and wounded, 
while the Boers only lost two men killed and seven 
wounded. 

The despatch adds that Captains Kirkwood and 
Grenfell were captured by Boer scouts near Colenso, 
and were being sent to Pretoria. 

Ten unloaded shells, inscribed "The Season's Greet- 
ings," have been fired at Lady smith. 

December 26. The British have made an unsuccess- 
ful attack on the Boers at Gametree, two miles from 
Mafeking. 

December 2"/. A hehograph message, received by 
way of Weenen from Ladysmith, says : 

" The Boers are actively bombarding the town. One 
shell struck the Devonshire mess tent, killing Captain 
Dalzel and wounding seven lieutenants, — Dent, Twiss, 
Tringham, Caffyn, Byrne, Scafe, and Kane." 

Ten South African medical students from Edinburgh 
arrived at Pretoria from Delagoa Bay, with five tons 
of medical stores. 

December 28. A despatch from the Boer camp at 
the Modder River reports that an artillery duel, lasting 
an hour, was indulged in at that place this morning. 



DECEMBER NEWS ITEMS. 95 

The British have, in fact, begun a steady bombardment 
of the Boer position. 

December ^o. A force sent out by General Gatacre 
to reconnoitre has been routed by the Boers and driven 
back on Dordrecht. 

December ji. General French has surprised the 
enemy, and compelled him to retreat to Colesberg. 

From Ladysmith comes the statement that General 
White has again been the aggressor, having made an at- 
tack on a Boer position and captured a hill. As the news 
comes from a native runner, it requires confirmation. 

The War Office has not yet issued anything about either 
General Gatacre's venture or General White's reported 
success. What does seem certain, however, coming as 
it does from many sources, is the report and despatches, 
published yesterday morning, that Dordrecht had been 
reoccupied by Gatacre. This is regarded by the military 
experts as a move by General Gatacre of great strategi- 
cal value, opening up, as it does, some fifty miles of 
country hitherto in full possession of the Boers. 

From General Buller nothing fresh has come in. It 
is calculated that he now has a force of about twenty- 
seven thousand men, with sixty-one guns, not counting 
the heavy naval weapons. Military experts here are 
inclined to think that Buller may contrive to achieve 
something important, though he is still handicapped 
by want of cavalry. It is not believed that his selec- 
tion of a time for striking will be in any way affected 
by the approach of Lord Roberts. 



CHAPTER X. 

STORMBERG JUNCTION. 

GENERAL SIR WILLIAM FORBES GAT- 
ACRE, a soldier who had been often tried and 
never found lacking in all that goes to make up a 
commander, suffered a most serious defeat at Stormberg 
Junction on the loth of December, which defeat cost 
the nation the lives of many brave men, and brought 
to the general commanding a most severe criticism 
from Lord Roberts. 

General Gatacre won for himself an enviable reputa- 
tion in the British army in the recent campaigns in 
India and the S.oudan, where he commanded brigades, 
and he wears many war medals for service in the lower 
grades of rank. He is a member of the " Distinguished 
Service Order." 

The private soldier in the barrack room has bestowed 

on the general the nickname of "Bill Backacher," on 

account of his capacity for hard work. In the Soudan 

his brigade was recognised as the best marching force 

in the country, and General Gatacre himself tramped 

cheerfully through the desert on the way to Khartoum. 

He is fifty-six years old, and from the time he en- 

96 



STORMBERG JUNCTION. 97 

tered the army, in the "Duke of Cambridge's Own," 
has passed a most active miUtary career. Having gone 
through the staff college, he filled administrative posts 
at Aldershot and Madras, and later filled the positions 
in India of assistant quarter-master-general on the head- 
quarters staff and adjutant-general at Bombay. In 
the Chitral campaign of 1895, with his brigade form- 
ing part of the relief force, he conducted the action of 
Maarragai, and had fierce fighting in the passages 
of the Jambatai and Lowarai passes. 

At the end of last year's campaign in the Egyptian 
Soudan, for his services at the battles of Atbara and 
Omdurraan, he received the thanks of Parliament, and 
was made a knight commander of the Bath. 

Gatacre's force left Putter's Kraal by train for Mol- 
teno, and then proceeded, by forced march, twelve miles 
toward Stormberg. The force comprised three thousand 
men, including the Northumberland Fusihers, the Royal 
Irish Rifles, and two batteries of field-artillery. 

General Gatacre's report of the disaster is as follows : 

"The idea to attack Stormberg seemed to promise 
certain success, but the distance was underestimated 
by myself and the local guides. A policeman took us 
around some miles ; consequently we were marching 
from 9.30 P.M. till 4 A.M., and were landed in an 
impossible position. I do not consider the error 
intentional. 

"The Boers commenced firing from the top of an 
unscalable hill, and wounded a good many of our men 



98 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

while in the open plain. The 2d Northumberlands 
tried to turn out the enemy, but failed. The 2d 
Irish Fusiliers seized a kopje near and held on, 
supported by the mounted infantry and Cape Police. 
The guns, under Jeffries, could not have been better 
handled. But I regret to say that one gun was over- 
turned in a deep nullah, and another sank in a quicksand. 
Neither could be extricated in the time available. 

" Seeing the situation, I sent a despatch rider to Mol- 
teno with the news, then collected and withdrew our 
force from ridge to ridge about nine miles. 

" The Boer guns were remarkably well served. They 
carried accurately five thousand yards. I am holding 
Bushman's Hook and Cypergat. Am sending the Irish 
Rifles and Northumberlands to Sterkestroom to recu- 
perate. The wounded proceed to Queenstown." 

One of the leading London papers, in commenting on 
the action, says : 

" Apparently the British were set an impossible task 
and were treacherously guided. After a trying march 
and being under arms sixteen hours, they attacked 
the wrong part of the Boer position, where the hill was 
impregnable, and the Burghers were estimated to num- 
ber six thousand men, instead of twenty-five hundred, as 
the spies had reported. 

" There is little in the story to mitigate the intense 
humiliation occasioned by the episode, which is almost 
an exact counterpart of the battle of Nicholson's 
Nek." 



STORMBERG JUNCTION. 99 

General Gatacre's movement may be termed a rec- 
onnoissance in force. Its object was to ascertain 
the strength of the position of the Boers, who were 
strongly entrenched along the Stormberg range. He 
left Putter's Kraal about noon, with a fighting force 
slightly over three thousand men. 

Leaving Molteno at nine o'clock, on the 9th of De- 
cember, he made a memorable night march over the 
rocks and veldt. There was no sound, except a steady 
tramp, and there were no distinguishing lights, the 
bright moon having gone down at 11.30 o'clock. 

The column arrived safely within a couple of miles of 
its destination, the only incidents of the march being an 
occasional sudden call of " Halt," under the belief that 
the Boers were near. 

Suddenly a terrific fire opened simultaneously on the 
British front and right flank. The Royal Irish Rifles, 
which formed the advance, sought shelter behind a 
kopje, and were speedily joined by the remainder of 
the column. It was found, however, that this position, 
also, was covered by Boer guns, which were more pow- 
erful than had been supposed. The troops, therefore, 
sought a safer position, about half a mile away, two 
batteries, in the meantime, engaging the Boers and 
covering the troops in their withdrawal. 

The action now became general at long range, and a 
detachment of mounted infantry moved northward, with 
a view of getting on the enemy's right flank. Suddenly 
^a strong commando was seen moving from the north, 

L«rc 



lOO FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

and the Royal Irish Rifles and the Northumberland 
regiment were sent out to meet it. It was soon dis- 
covered, however, that the Boers had machine-guns well 
placed, and the British were compelled to face a terrible 
fire. 

Finding it impossible to hold the position in the face 
of an enemy apparently superior in position, numbers, 
and artillery, the British retired on Molteno, the Boers 
following up the retirement closely and bringing two big 
guns to bear on the retiring column. 

" I have seen, in my life," writes the correspondent of 
the London Times, " one or two fights, but at Storm- 
berg, for the first time, I was enabled to realise what 
actual defeat means. It was, indeed, a case of vce 
victis. The hopeless exhaustion of the unhappy soldiers 
was terrible to see." 

His description of General Gatacre's reverse at this 
point is, in part : 

" The infantry has been at work, or in the train in 
open trucks, or marching, since 4 a. m. Saturday. The 
actual march occupied seven hours, and it is, therefore, 
little to be wondered at that the men were wholly inca- 
pable of making a supreme effort when at last they were 
surprised by receiving fire at short range while marching 
in fours in fancied security. 

" On receiving the enemy's fire, the companies at hand 
rushed at once against the kopjes from which it pro- 
ceeded, and advancing from boulder to boulder, swiftly 
commenced to ascend. Indeed, it is a fact that a con- 



STORMBERG JUNCTION. lOI 

siderable number actually arrived within a few yards of 
a lower line of 'seances,' which could not, however, be 
reached without ladders. 

"But at this juncture our own artillery, failing in the 
yet uncertain light to observe the ascent of the infantry, 
opened fire upon the enemy, and several shells, falling 
short, dealt destruction among the assailants of the 
position. 

" A partial retirement instantly ensued, and having 
been brought to a standstill, the attack gradually melted 
away until, convinced that the case was hopeless, the 
general ordered the ' retire ' to be sounded. Had the 
order been promptly obeyed, the troops might not im- 
probably have been withdrawn without any serious 
loss, and a fresh attempt might even yet have been 
successfully prosecuted. 

" But it was not to be. Many men were loth to retire 
because they were anxious to go on, while not a few 
were so utterly exhausted that they simply preferred 
to stay where they were, at all hazards, than to under- 
take the ordeal of a rapid retirement over the open 
ground at the foot of the hills. Eventually over 
five hundred unwounded men were taken prisoners. 
Steadily, as if on parade, the retirement was exe- 
cuted by those who responded to the order, the 
soldiers moving back at a steady pace, without the 
least hurry or confusion, and halting constantly to 
fire. 

" So far as I can understand the matter, the causes 



102 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

to which this most lamentable failure must be attributed 
are : 

" I. The map of the ground was utterly misleading, 
and more than useless. 

"2. So far as I am aware, no one among the respon- 
sible authorities had taken any compass bearings, and, 
consequently, no one knew where he was being taken 
in the dark. 

" 3. The Berkshire regiment, by whom the redoubts 
now occupied by the Boers at Stormberg had been 
built, and to whom every inch of the ground was 
familiar, were left at Queenstown, instead of being 
employed to recapture the work which they had so 
unwillingly evacuated about a month previously. 

"4. Over five hundred men, afterward made prison- 
ers, had fallen into a trap, from which they failed to 
extricate themselves. Consequently, when the rest of 
the force had been rallied upon a defenceless portion 
in the rear, the general had not troops sufficient to 
warrant a fresh attempt upon some selected point of 
attack. 

"5. In any case, the men, who had been by this time 
on the move for over twenty-four hours on the stretch, 
who had just completed seven hours of marching 
through the night, and who had been actually under 
arms for upwards of sixteen hours, were so dead beat 
that severe hill fighting was quite beyond their powers. 
During the actual retirement from the hills attacked, — 
or rather under which we were ourselves attacked iri 



STORMBERG JUNCTION. lO^ 

anticipation, — men were falling asleep in the open 
ground, after or before using their rifles. No sooner 
did they halt to fire than they fell forward sound 
asleep. An officer told me that he awoke several such 
men by kicking them soundly, and thus insisting upon 
their continuing their retreat to a place of safety. 

" 6. The guns were at first in the same trap as the 
infantry, and were compelled to retreat some distance 
over very difficult ground before they could come into 
action upon even then a poor position, with most infe- 
rior command. During this movement a gun was lost 
in consequence of being stuck fast, and the struggling 
horses shot down by the enemy. It was a pitiable 
sight, of which those who saw it cannot speak without 
emotion." 

Lord Roberts, in transmitting General Gatacre's 
report of the engagement, wrote as follows : 

" The failure was mainly due to reliance on inaccu- 
rate information regarding the .ground to be traversed 
to the position held by the Boers, to the employment 
of too small a force, and to the men being tired out by 
a long night march before they came in contact with 
the enemy. 

" When it became evident, shortly after midnight, 
that the guides were leading the column in the wrong 
direction, I consider Gatacre should have halted and 
endeavoured to find a proper road, or should have fallen 
back on Molteno rather than have risked the safety of 
the entire force by following a route which brought the 



I04 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

troops into difficult ground commanded on both sides 
by Boers." 

From the Boer lines President Steyn sent the follow- 
ing details of the fight : ' 

" The British, with six cannon, attacked the Boers 
under Swanspoel and Olivier, and stormed the Boers' 
entrenched position on the kopjes. After a severe 
fight they were compelled to surrender. 

"The prisoners are Major Sturges, six officers, and 
230 non-commissioned officers and men of the North- 
umberlands, and two officers and about 250 non-com- 
missioned officers and men of the Irish Fusiliers. 

" It is impossible to state the number of dead and 
wounded British. 

"The Boers captured three cannon and two ammu- 
nition wagons." 



CHAPTER XL 

THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN. 

'' I ^HE fourth battle in the advance of General Me- 
■*- thuen toward Kimberley, was fought at Magers- 
fontein, six miles northeast of the British camp at 
Modder River. 

The commander explained in his official despatch 
that there were most serious difficulties to be encoun- 
tered in an attempt to outflank sixteen hundred Boers 
entrenched among the Magersfontein kopjes. He be- 
lieved that a blow dealt at the Boer centre would 
be more effective than any other movement, inasmuch 
as his orders were to relieve Kimberley at the earliest 
possible moment ; therefore, the day the last reinforce- 
ments arrived, he decided to attack Magersfontein 
kopje. 

To this end the Guards and Highland brigade 
moved from the Modder River camp early on the even- 
ing of December loth, and marched in the night in a 
northeasterly direction. The objective of the High- 
landers was the eastern spur of the Boer position, 
while the Guards followed the bank of the river, and 
the Yorkshire light infantry moved along the river- 

105 



I06 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

side. Just before daybreak the Highlanders arrived 
within two hundred yards of the Boer entrenchments 
at the foot of the hill. Unsuspecting that the Boers 
were in the vicinity, the British were still marching in 
quarter column in close order, when they met a terrible 
fire from the flanks, and were forced to retire, with 
heavy loss. 

The troops reformed under the shelter of some rising 
ground, and gallantly held their position. Later, the 
Gordons arrived, and the troops gradually worked their 
way until within three hundred yards of the Boer position, 
displaying the greatest gallantry. In the meanwhile 
a naval gun at Modder River, the howitzer batteries, 
and the horse artillery opened a terrific fire, enfilading 
the trenches and searching every portion of the Boer 
position. The enemy's guns were entirely silent. In 
the meanwhile the Boers, on the open ground directly 
in front, moved, with the object of making a flank at- 
tack, but this was frustrated by the guards and artillery. 

The Boers .recommenced shelling in the evening, 
but no damage was done. The British slept on their 
position. 

During the night it was considered expedient that the 
Highland brigade, about four thousand strong, under 
General Wauchope, should get close enough to the lines 
of the foe to make it possible to charge the heights. At 
midnight the gallant, but ill-fated brigade moved cau- 
tiously through the darkness toward the kopje where the 
Boers were most strongly entrenched. They were led 



THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN. I07 

by a guide who was supposed to know every inch of 
the country, out into the darkness of an African night. 

The brigade marclied in line of quarter cohimn, each 
man stepping cautiously and slowly, for they knew that 
every sound meant death. 

Every order was given in a hoarse whisper, and in 
whispers it was passed along the ranks from man to 
man. Nothing was heard as they moved toward the 
gloomy, stfeel-fronted heights but the brushing of their 
feet in the veldt grass, and the deep-drawn breaths of 
the marching men. 

So onward, until three of the clock on the morning 
of Monday. Then out of the darkness a rifle rang, 
sharp and clear, a herald of disaster, — a soldier had 
tripped in the dark over the hidden wires laid down by 
the enemy. In a second, in the twinkling of an eye, 
the search-lights of the Boers fell broad and clear as the 
noonday sun, on the ranks of the doomed Highlanders, 
though it left the enemy concealed in the shadows of 
the frowning mass of hills behind him. 

For one brief moment the Scots seemed paralysed by 
the suddenness of their discovery, for they knew that 
they were huddled together like sheep within fifty yards 
of the trenches of the foe. Then, clear above the con- 
fusion, rolled the voice of the general, " Steady, men, 
steady ! " and, like an echo to the veteran's voice, out 
came the crash of nearly a thousand rifles. 

The Highlanders reeled before the shock like trees 
before the tempest. Their best, their bravest, fell in 



ro8 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

that wild hail of lead. General Wauchope was down, 
riddled with bullets, yet, gasping, dying, bleeding from 
every vein, the Highland chieftain raised himself upon 
his hands and knees, and cheered his men forward. 
Men and officers fell in heaps together. 

The Black Watch charged, and the Gordons and the 
Seaforths, with a yell that stirred the British camp be- 
low, rushed onward — onward to death or disaster. 
The wires caught them around the legs until they floun- 
dered like trapped wolves, and all the time the rifles of 
the foe sang the song of death in their ears. Then they 
fell back, broken and beaten, leaving nearly thirteen 
hundred dead and wounded just where the broad breast 
of the grassy veldt melts into the embrace of the rugged 
African hills. 

An hour later the dawning came of the dreariest day 
that Scotland has known for a generation. Of her 
officers, the flower of her chivalry, the pride of her 
breeding, but few remained to tell the tale, — a sad tale 
truly, but one untainted with dishonour or smirched 
with disgrace, for up those heights, under similar cir- 
cumstances, even a brigade of devils could scarcely have 
hoped to pass. All that mortal men could do, the Scots 
did. They tried, they failed, they fell, and there is noth- 
ing left now but to mourn for them and avenge them. 

All that fateful day the wounded men lay close to 
the Boer lines under a blazing sun.- Over their heads 
the shots of friends and foes passed without ceasing. 
All day long the battle raged. Scarcely could either 



THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN. IO9 

army see the foe. All that met British eyes was the 
rocky heights, that spoke with tongues of flame when- 
ever their troops drew near. 

Once the Guards made a brilliant dash at the trenches, 
and, like a torrent, their resistless valour bore all before 
them, and for a few brief moments they got within 
hitting distance of the foe. Well did they avenge the 
slaughter of the Scots. The bayonets, like tongues of 
flame, passed above or below the rifle-guards, and swept 
through brisket and breastbone. Out of their trenches 
the Guardsmen tossed the Boers as men in harvest-field 
toss the grain when the reapers' scythes have whitened 
the field, and the human streams were plentiful where 
the British Guardsmen stood. 

Then they fell back, for the fire from the heights 
above them fell thick as the spume of the surf on an 
Australian rock-ribbed coast. But the Guards had 
proved to the Boer that, man to man, the Briton was 
his master. 

In vain all that day Methuen tried by every rule he 
knew to draw the enemy. Vainly the Lancers rode 
recklessly to induce those human rock-limpets to come 
out and cut them off. Cronje knew the metal of his 
foe, and an ironic laugh played around his iron mouth, 
but still he stayed within his native fastness. 

Yet death sat ever at his elbow, for British gunners 
dropped the lyddite shells and the howling shrapnel all 
along his lines, until the trenches ran blood, and many 
of his guns were silent. In the valley behind his outer 



no FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

line of hills his dead lay piled in hundreds, and the 
smoke of the hills was a charnel house, where the 
wounded all rise amid the masses of the dead, a ghastly 
tribute to British gunnery. 

When, at half-past one o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, 
the English drew off to Modder River to recuperate, they 
left nearly three thousand dead and wounded of grim old 
Cronje's men, as token of their "staying qualities." 

An official report gave the total number of British 
killed, wounded, and missing of all arms in the engage- 
ment, as 963. Of the officers, fifteen were killed and 
forty-seven wounded, while five were missing and one 
captured. 

There were 650 casualties among the non-commis- 
sioned officers and men of the Highland brigade. The 
brigade lost ten officers killed and thirty-five wounded. 

A celebrated English critic on mihtary affairs thus 
writes : 

" Magersfontein appears to be another case of either 
superior Boer strategy or inexcusable neglect by the 
British to fully feel the position of their opponents, 
although fuller accounts of the battle would seem to 
support the theory that the repulse was due rather to 
accident than to any fault on the part of generals or 
men. Still, there is much to be explained. The Boer 
position had been heavily bombarded on Tuesday, but 
we do not know that the entrenchments had been 
thoroughly examined. It is probable that during the 
night an advance was made by the Boers, and new 



THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN, III 

works constructed, upon which the Highlanders blun- 
dered in the dark. 

" No troops, taken altogether by surprise, could have 
escaped terrible losses, yet, when the British column 
advanced at night toward the enemy's position, it seems 
as if every precaution should have been taken to guard 
against all possible moves of the mobile foe. Instead 
of that, the British advanced as if on parade, until they 
were at the mercy of the entrenched Boers. 

" Instead of being in a scattered line, the quarter- 
column formation, in which the Highlanders were 
marching when they came unexpectedly on the Boers, 
is the closest formation in which regiments can move. 
There is only just room for the officers and non-com- 
missioned officers between the companies. A regiment 
in this formation looks like solid blocks of humanity. 

" It must by this time be clear to the British officers 
that night attacks in the South African war with an 
alert foe are a grave mistake. Twice within a few 
days they have miscarried. At Telel Kebir, a night 
attack upon an entrenched position succeeded admirably, 
but the enemy there was of quite a different calibre." 

The classical method of storming an entrenched posi- 
tion is first to bombard heavily, and just before the 
assault pour in a perfect storm of shells. Then im- 
mediately the infantry go forward. In the case of 
Magersfontein, the Boers were given a night to re- 
cover from the shock and demoralisation which a 
terrific artillery bombardment must cause. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE BATTLE OF COLENSO. 

THE first intimation which the pubHc received of a 
possible disaster to the British force in Natal 
came like a thunderclap from the clear sky, when Gen- 
eral Buller sent the following official report : 

" Chieveley Camp, December 1 5, 6.30 p. m. — I regret 
to report a serious reverse. I moved in full strength 
from our camp near Chieveley at four o'clock this 
morning. There are two fordable places in the Tugela 
River, and it was my intention to force a passage through 
at one of them. They are about two miles apart. 

"My intention was to force one or the other with 
one brigade, supported by a central brigade. General 
Hart was to attack the left drift, General Hildyard 
the right road, and General Lyttleton was to take the 
centre and to support either. 

" Early in the day I saw that General Hart would 
not be able to force a passage, and I directed him to 
withdraw. He had, however, attacked with great 
gallantry, and his leading battalion, the Connaught 
Rangers, I fear suffered a great deal. Colonel I. G. 
Brooke was seriously wounded. 



THE BATTLE OF COLENSO. II3 

" I then ordered General Hildyard to advance, which 
he did, and his leading regiment, the East Surrey, occu- 
pied Colenso Station and the houses near the bridge. 

"At that moment I heard that the whole artillery 
I had sent to support the attack, — the 14th and 66th 
Field Batteries and six naval 12-pounder quick-firers, — 
under Colonel Long, had advanced close to the river, 
in Long's desire to be within effective range. It proved 
to be full of the enemy, who suddenly opened a galling 
fire at close range, killing all their horses ; and the 
gunners were compelled to stand to their guns. Some 
of the wagon teams got shelter for the troops in a 
donga, and desperate efforts were made to bring out 
the field-guns. 

" The fire, however, was too severe, and only two 
were saved by Captain Schofield and some drivers, 
whose names I will furnish. 

" Another most gallant attempt, with three teams, 
was made by an officer, whose name I will obtain. Of 
the eighteen horses, thirteen were killed, and as several 
drivers were wounded, I would not allow another at- 
tempt, as it seemed that they would be a shell mark, 
sacrificing life to a gallant attempt to force the passage. 

"Unsupported by artillery, I directed the troops to 
withdraw, which they did in good order. 

"Throughout the day a considerable force of the 
enemy was pressing on my right flank, but was kept 
back by mounted men under Lord Dundonald and part 
of General Barton's brigade. The day was intensely 



114 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

hot, and most trying to the troops, whose conduct was 
excellent. We have abandoned ten guns, and lost by 
shell fire, one. 

"The 14th and 66th Field Batteries suffered severe 
losses. We have retired to our camp at Chieveley." 

On the following day General Buller reported that 
his losses in the engagement were : 

Killed, 82 ; wounded, 66^] ; missing, 348 ; a total of 
1,097. 

Officers killed : Field Artillery, 2 ; Dublin Fusiliers, 
2 ; Inniskillen Fusiliers, 2 ; Medical Corps, i ; Thorney- 
croft's mounted infantry, i. 

Officers wounded : Devonshire regiment, 5 ; Rifle 
Brigade (the Prince Consort's Own), i ; 5th Brigade, 
staff, I ; Inniskillen Fusiliers, 8 ; Border regiment, 3 ; 
Connaught Rangers, 2 ; Dublin Fusiliers, 3 ; Irish Fu- 
siliers, I ; Horse Artillery, i ; Field Artillery, 5 ; Medical 
Corps, I ; mounted infantry, 3 ; Natal Carbineers, 2 ; 
South African Light Horse, 2. 

Officers taken prisoners or missing : Field Artillery, 
5 ; Devonshire regiment, 3 ; Essex regiment, i ; Royal 
Scots Fusiliers, 6; Royal Artillery, 3. 

From near its source in the Drakensburg range, right 
down beyond Rorkes drift, the Tugela River, the pas- 
sage of which General Buller tried to force, is a broad, 
rapid stream at this time of the year, just at the end of 
the rainy season. 

Around Colenso, on the south side, the country is 



THE BATTLE OF COLENSO. II5 

broken and hilly, as it is across the stream from there, 
and admirably adapted for the Boer methods of fighting, 
past masters of taking advantage of shelter as they are. 
Like all the country around about here, the land is abso- 
lutely bare of trees. Through this country the Tugela 
has eaten its way down to a deep bed with steep bluff 
banks north and south. In the neighbourhood of Co- 
lenso, where the contending forces came into conflict, 
the north bank is even steeper than the south. 

Except where there may happen to be a ford, there 
is either a sheer drop of from seven to ten feet, or 
where, as at Colenso, the hills infringe so closely on 
both sides, the Tugela is a difficult stream to cross at 
any time. But two such crossings exist, one about two 
miles east and the other some three miles up-stream 
from Colenso. The hills fall away on the right bank, 
and where the stream is low, both fords were used by 
the ox-teams of the farmers before the road bridge was 
built. 

At either ford the ground on both sides is firm and 
hard, and not even in the wet season is there any spot 
where guns could be stalled. The lower ford, the objec- 
tive point of the right wing of the British force, is 
skirted for miles by low rocky hills on the western side, 
and there was where Buller's battery horses were shot 
down. 

The British story of the battle is told most graph- 
ically by the correspondent of the Lojidon Daily 
Telegraph. 



Il6 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

After describing how the British force began its 
advance at daylight, and how the Boers left them 
absolutely unmolested, the writer says : 

"At 6.25 there suddenly burst an awful crash of 
Boer musketry upon the batteries and advancing in- 
fantry. The rattle of the Mausers swelled and was 
maintained as one continuous roar. From the build- 
ings and lines of trenches south of the river and from 
the river bank itself the Boers fired at our gunners and 
foot-men. The trenches on the northern side of the 
Tugela River joined their shot, and from Fort Wylie 
and elsewhere they sent out a hurricane of leaden hail. 
The bullets venomously rained upon the ground in all 
directions, raising puffs of dust and tearing through the 
air with a shrill sound. Few have ever seen so heavy 
and so deadly a fusilade ; but neither the British gun- 
ners nor the infantry hesitated or winced. Cannon were 
wheeled into position, although many of the horses and 
men were shot down before the manoeuvre was com- 
pleted, and our indomitable soldiers marched straight 
onward. Not even Rome in her palmiest days ever 
possessed more devoted sons. As the gladiators went 
forth, proud and beaming, to meet death, so the British 
soldiers, doomed to die, saluted, and then with alacrity 
stepped forward to do their duty — glory or the grave. 
Anglo-Saxon soldiers always advance that way. 

" I asked an American who had seen warfare at home, 
in Cuba, and Manila, if his own countrymen generally 
did this, and he answered : 



THE BATTLE OF COLENSO. II7 

" ' Yes ; it is marvellous, but wasteful.' 

" Closer and closer walked the soldiers to the Boer 
trenches, until within four hundred yards of the nearest 
rifle-pits. Then, lying down, they returned the fire, but 
there was little or nothing left to aim at. 

" By 7. 1 5 the Irish brigade had driven the Boers to 
the north bank of the Tugela. They found that the 
enemy had planted the ground with barbed wire entan- 
glements. Even in the bed of the river, barbed wire 
was laid down. Into the water went the Dublins, Innis- 
killens. Borderers, and Connaughts, but it was found at 
the ford that the Boers had cunningly dammed the river, 
and there was ten feet of water where ordinarily it is 
only knee-deep. They strove to find the crossings, and 
many a fine fellow, with his weight of ammunition 
and accoutrements, was drowned. 

" It was a desperate and serious situation. The attack 
upon the right was making no progress, and the hearts 
of the men had reached an apparent impasse. But there 
were furious and angry Irishmen who had resolved to 
get across somehow. By dint of scrambling from rock 
to rock, and swimming, a number won the other side, 
but most of them found that they had but passed across 
a winding spruit. The Tugela still lay in front, and all 
the while the murderous fire of cannon and Mauser 
crashed, and comrades fell, weltering in their blood. 

" In the meanwhile Colonel Long had lost his gun, and 
Generals Buller and Clery, with their staffs and escorts, 
had ridden to the scene. The spouting hail of lead and 



Il8 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

iron snapped and spluttered, and the dust puffed more 
than ever. Lord Roberts's son, with Captains Schofield 
and Congreve, vokmteered to ride out and endeavour 
to save the two field-batteries in the open. Readily 
other volunteers were found. Corporals from the lines, 
men and drivers of the ammunition wagons, taking spare 
teams, galloped out, and men and horses again began 
falling on every side. Young Roberts's horse wsls blown 
up with a shell. Congreve was hit with a bullet, and 
his clothes were cut by other missiles. Schofield alone 
remained untouched. 

"Across that valley of death quickly the surviving 
animals were rounded up, and the guns were hooked 
and dragged away. Again and again attempts were 
made to haul off the remaining guns, but the Boer fire 
was incessant and withering. At four o'clock the bat- 
tle was over. General Buller abandoned the guns and 
retreated." 

An official account of the Boer casualties at the 
battle of Tugela River says thirty men were killed or 
wounded. General Schalk-Burgers's report of the battle, 
despatched from the head laager, December i6th, says: 

" Friday, at dawn, the day long expected arrived. 
The Pretoria detachment of artillery gave the alarm. 
General Buller's Ladysmith relief column was in battle 
array, advancing on the Boer positions close to the 
Tugela and Colenso. The centre consisted of an im- 
mense crown of infantry, flanked on each side by two 
batteries, with strong bodies of cavalry supporting. 




BRITISH SOLDIERS TRYING TO SAVE THE FIELD GUNS AT 
COLENSO. 



THE BATTLE OF COLENSO. II9 

"The Boer artillery preserved absolute silence, not 
disclosing its position. Two batteries came within rifle 
distance of our foremost position, and the Boers then 
opened fire with deadly effect. Our artillery also com- 
menced, and apparently absolutely confused the enemy, 
who were allowed to think the bridge was open for them 
to cross. 

" Their right flank, in the meantime, attacked the 
Boers' southernmost position, but the Mauser rifle fire 
was so tremendous that they were rolled back like a 
spent wave, leaving ridges and ridges of dead and dying 
humanity behind. 

" Again the British advanced to the attack, but again 
fell back, swelling with heaps of dead. Their cavalry 
charged to the river, where the Ermelo commando 
delivered such a murderous fire that two batteries of 
cannon had to be abandoned, which the Boers are going 
to bring here. Twice the British essayed to bring 
horses to remove them. The first time, they succeeded 
in hitching on to one cannon, and the second trial the 
horses and men fell in a heap. 

" Then the British were in full retreat to their camp, 
whence they sent a heavy shrapnel fire on Dulwer 
bridge across the Tugela, to prevent the Burghers 
from recovering the cannon. 

"The French attache, Villebois, and the German 
attache, Braun, say the fight could not have been im- 
proved upon by the armies of Europe. 

"Generals Botha and Trichardt were always at the 



I20 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

most dangerous points of the fighting. Eleven ambu- 
lances removed the English dead and wounded. 

"Such a tremendous cannonade has seldom been 
heard. The veldt, for miles, was covered with dead 
and wounded. It was a most crushing British defeat. 
Nine of the cannon have since been brought across the 
river. The British asked for, and were granted, a 
twenty-four hour armistice." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IN JANUARY. 

^^ANUARY I. On December 30th a reconnoi- 
J tring force, sent out by General Gatacre, was routed 
by the Boers and driven back to Dordrecht. Lieuten- 
ant Turner, of the Frontier Mounted Rifles, and twenty- 
seven men were left, during the retreat, at Labnschagnes 
Nek. This party had been thus voluntarily cut off be- 
cause of its refusal to leave a wounded officer — Lieu- 
tenant Warren, of Brabants's Horse. 

During the night the little force defended itself suc- 
cessfully against the repeated attacks of the Boers, who 
resorted to snipping. 

Next morning, Captain Goldsworthy, with no men of 
the Cape Mounted Rifles and four guns, set out to res- 
cue the party. The Boers did not wait long to try 
conclusions with the newcomers, but fled to the hills 
after a skirmish in which they lost eight men killed, 
in addition to the wounded. Two of Lieutenant Tur- 
ner's party were wounded, and nearly all the horses had 
been killed. 

There was sharp fighting to-day in the hills around 



122 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Colesberg. The Boers stubbornly resisted the British 
at every point, but gradually retreated. 

The British forces under General French hold the 
extreme position to the south and east, overlooking the 
town. 

The hills around Colesberg are numerous, not in 
ranges, but in groups, making it very difficult to hunt 
the Boers out. 

Colonel Pilcher reports, through the officer command- 
ing at the Orange River : 

" I have completely defeated a hostile command at 
the Sunnyside laager this day, taking the laager and 
forty prisoners, besides the killed and wounded. 

" Our casualties are two privates killed and Lieuten- 
ant Adie wounded. 

"Am encamped at Dover farm, twenty miles north- 
west of Belmont and ten miles from Sunnyside." 

Januajy 2. Colonel Pilcher pushed forward rapidly, 
capturing the town of Douglas this afternoon. Casual- 
ties light. 

Latest reports from Ladysmith give the unpleasant 
information that the fever is spreading among the troops 
to an alarming degree. 

The fighting at Colesberg continues ; the Boers yet 
hold possession of the town. 

A late despatch announces that the Boers have 
attacked Molteno. 

January ^. General Gatacre is engaging the Boers 
near Cypergat. 



IN JANUARY. 123 

At General French's special request, the Household 
cavalry, a battery of field-artillery, and the first bat- 
talion of the Essex regiment have been despatched to 
reinforce him temporarily. 

Further details of the fighting between General Gat- 
acre and the Boers at Cypergat, to-day, show that 
three thousand Boers, with artillery, attacked a Brit- 
ish outpost between Cypergat and Molteno. General 
Gatacre, with mounted troops and field-artillery, moved 
out in front of Sterkstroom, and found the Boers 
strongly posted at Coperberg, whence they were quickly 
dislodged, the Boers fleeing in the direction of Storm- 
berg. The Boers used the British guns captured 
December loth and shot well, but the British kept 
under cover and there were no casualties on their 
side. 

The Boers attacked Molteno again this morning. 
A brisk action is now in progress. 

Colonel Pilcher, it is officially announced, being only 
on a raiding expedition, and for military reasons being 
unable to occupy Douglas permanently, has evacuated 
the town, bringing off all the loyalists. 

He has now returned safely to close proximity to 
Belmont. When he announced the necessity of evacu- 
ating the place, the inhabitants of Douglas declared 
their lives were not worth five minutes' purchase after 
the troops left. Colonel Pilcher therefore invited 
them to accompany him to Belmont. 

The preparations were speedily completed, but the 



124 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

vehicles of the town were totally madequate to convey 
the refugees, so the troops gave up the transport wagons 
to -the women and children. 

The Canadians acted as an escort of the refugees, 
carried babies for the women, and kept everybody lively 
by singing as they marched pluckily along in spite of 
sore feet, occasioned by the heavy sand, which made 
marching extremely tiring. The force received General 
Buller's congratulations on the success of the expedition 
with great satisfaction. 

The following despatch comes from Lorenzo Marquez : 

" Field Cornet Visser reports as follows from Kuru- 
man, British Bechuanaland, under date of Tuesday, 
January 2d : 

" ' I commenced a bombardment of Kuruman yester- 
day (Monday) morning, aiming at the police barracks. 
The fight lasted until six in the evening, when the 
garrison surrendered, issuing from the forts and yield- 
ing up arms. 

"'We took 120 prisoners, including Captain Bates 
and Captain Dennison, Mr. Hilliard, the magistrate, 
and eight other officers. We also captured seventy 
natives, together with a number of rifles and revolvers 
and a quantity of ammunition. Fifteen British were 
wounded. They are being attended by us, with the 
help of Doctor Bearne, an English physician. 

'"The horses, oxen, "mealies," and flour taken from 
the prisoners have been sent to Pretoria by way of 
Vryburg.' " 



IN JANUARY. 125 

General Gatacre has given up Dordrecht, thinking 
it inadvisable to hold the place longer. 

The British government has seized the German mail- 
steamer, General, for alleged carrying of contraband 
goods. 

Emperor William is said to be particularly incensed 
over the affair, because information has reached him 
showing that the seizure was not due to the blundering 
of British naval officers, but to strict orders from head- 
quarters which the officers are merely carrying out. 
He has therefore instructed Count von Buelow, the 
foreign secretary, to demand exact and full reparation 
for the outrage done to the German flag. 

Significant of the intensity of Germany's indignation 
against England in this matter, is a declaration published 
to-day by the German Colonial Society, among whose 
eighty thousand members are a number of reigning 
German princes, which says : 

" England's recent proceedings against German ves- 
sels are an outrage. The fact remains that the small 
respect which the English people feel for Germany, be- 
cause of her inefficiency in naval power, has taken such 
deep root that the commanders of English war-ships 
hasten to commit breaches in international rights so 
long as only Germany is thereby touched. This lack 
of fear to touch the German flag must be thoroughly 
and speedily cured." 

The 7th Army Division sailed from England to- 
day. 



126 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

A number of signs indicate that the hour of battle in 
Natal is drawing near, volunteers for duty as stretcher- 
bearers having been sent to the front. The foreign 
attaches have left Durban for Frere. Very important 
news is expected at any moment. 

Jamiary 5. Colonel Baden-Powell reports that on 
December 26th he made a sortie from Mafeking, and 
was defeated, with a loss of forty-five killed and 
wounded. 

Jamiary 6. The Boers took their turn on the ag- 
gressive early this morning, when they attacked Lady- 
smith with great force on all sides. General White's 
garrison replied with a tremendous fire of musketry and 
field-guns. The Boers were very successful, capturing 
several important positions, and holding them all day 
long. In the middle of the afternoon, General White 
hehographed to Buller that he was "hard pressed," but 
the latter was powerless to assist him. Just at dark, in 
sheer desperation, White ordered a bayonet charge, and 
the Boers were driven from their advanced position. 
British losses : thirteen officers killed, twenty-seven 
wounded ; rank and file, thirteen killed, 269 wounded. 
Boer losses : twenty-seven killed, and seventy wounded. 

The German steamer General has been released. 

Germany has sent a war-ship to Delagoa Bay. 

General French reports a loss of 217 men. 

Janiiary y. The following was received at four this 
afternoon from General White : 

"January 6th, 12.45 P- ^- Have beaten the enemy 



IN JANUARY. 127 

off at present, but they are still around me in great 
numbers, especially to the south, and I think renewed 
attack very probable. 

"3.15 p. M. Attack renewed. Very hard pressed." 

General French reports that ninety men of the Suf- 
folk regiment have been sent off and captured by the 
Boers. 

January 8. General White has sent the following 
message from Ladysmith, dated at 2 p. m. to-day : 

" An attack was commenced on my position, but was 
chiefly against Caesar's Camp and Wagon Hill. The 
enemy was in force, and pushed the attack with the 
greatest courage and energy. Some of our entrench- 
ments on Wagon Hill were three times taken by the 
enemy and retaken by us. The attack continued until 
7.30. One point in our position was occupied by the 
enemy the whole day. But at dusk, in a very heavy 
rain-storm, they were turned out of this position at the 
point of the bayonet, in a most gallant manner, by the 
Devons, led by Colonel Park. Colonel Ian Hamilton 
commanded on Wagon Hill, and rendered valuable 
services. The troops have had a very trying time, and 
have behaved excellently. They are elated at the ser- 
vice they have rendered the queen. 

"The enemy was repulsed everywhere with a very 
heavy loss, greatly exceeding that on my side, which 
will be reported as soon as the lists are com- 
pleted." 
January 10. General Lord Roberts and his chief 



128 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

of Staff, General Lord Kitchener, arrived early this 
evening. 

January ii. General Buller advanced this forenoon 
and occupied the south bank of the Tugela River, 
seizing the pont. 

The American flour which had been seized was re- 
leased to-day, the government having declared that food- 
stuffs are not contraband of war, unless intended for 
use by the enemy's forces. 

January 75. The Boers rushed a hill to-day at Rens- 
burg, but were driven back at the point of the bayonet 
by General French's force. The enemy's loss was 
twenty-one killed, and fifty wounded. 

January 16. Major-General Lyttleton ferried and 
forded Potgieter's drift on the Tugela River this after- 
noon, and seized, with but little opposition, a line of 
low ridges a mile therefrom. 

January ij. General Buller' s advance was continued 
last night, when the howitzer battery was carried 
across the Tugela River at Potgieter's drift ; and to-day, 
from Mount Ahce near Swartz Kop, the naval guns 
and the howitzers shelled effectively the Boer position, 
which is a strong one. 

General Sir Charles Warren crossed the Tugela to- 
day six miles farther to the west, near Wagon drift, with 
a force of all arms, in the face of a hot and very heavy 
fire from the Boer cannon and rifles. He has effected 
a most satisfactory lodgment two miles inland, toward 
Sproonkop. ^ 



IN JANUARY. 129 

January ig. Lord Dundonald's cavalry defeated the 
Boers to-day in a skirmish west of Acton Homes. The 
enemy lost thirty-five in killed and wounded. 

January 20. General Warren has had an all-day fight, 
driving the Boers back a thousand yards. His loss in 
wounded is given as : 

" Officers : staff, Col. B. Hamilton and Maj. C. Mc- 
Gregor ; 2d Lancashire Fusiliers, Capt. R. B. Blunt and 
2d Lieut. H. G. Crofton and E. J. M. Barrett; ist 
Border Rifles, Capt. C. D. Vaughan and 2d Lieut. 
Murior; ist York and Lancashires, 2d Lieut. A. H. 
Keirroy ; 2d Dublin Fusiliers, Capt. C. A. Hornsby 
(since dead), and Maj. F. English ; 2d Gordon, 2d 
Lieut. T. D. Stewart, and 279 non-commissioned 
officers and men." 

General Lyttleton made to-day a reconnoissance in 
force in front of Potgieter's drift. His casualities are 
two killed, twelve wounded, and two missing. 

January 22. General Warren is attacking the enemy's 
right flank. 

January 2^. General Warren has taken Spion Kop, 
the Boer garrison leaving the position without making 
much resistance. Major-General Woodgate has been 
seriously wounded. 

January 2^. General Warren, late to-night, was forced 
to abandon Spion Kop. General Buller reports the loss 
to-day as : killed, six officers and twenty-four non-com- 
missioned officers and men ; wounded, twelve officers 
and 142 non-commissioned officers and men; mis- 



130 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

sing, thirty-one, Boer losses: fifty-two killed, 120 
wounded. 

A letter sent from Ladysmith by a native runner thus 
speaks of General Buller's defeat at Colenso : 

" The news was received with blank dismay. Then, 
as the situation began to be studied calmly, the tension 
was reheved. It did not really matter if the investment 
lasted a few weeks longer. We had few of the luxuries 
of life, it is true, but there was a full ration of the neces- 
saries for at least two months. The defences were 
practically secure against attack. Our worst enemy 
was sickness. The situation was anything but desper- 
ate. The men, having so long stood to the field fortifica- 
tions, seemed satisfied to remain on the defences. The 
disappointment was acute, but, as far as the garrison 
was concerned, the situation remained unchanged. 

" From all accounts, the invaders have carried out 
their devastation with a ruthless hand. Not content with 
lifting all cattle found on farms, they have destroyed 
private property in a shameful and childlike manner. 
When the orders were given to leave the homesteads 
standing, the raiders, after removing everything port- 
able, resorted to the petty spite of slitting pictures and 
firing bullets into pianos, and in every way trying to do 
as much annoying damage as possible. In a farm which 
we have retaken we found the pictures with the eyes 
gouged out of the portraits, and all the little harmless 
ornaments, which the feminine mind loves so well, de- 
liberately smashed. A poor revenge." 



IN JANUARY. 131 

Winston Churchill gives this graphic picture of fight- 
ing Boers, from Chieveley : 

" Yesterday I rode out to watch the evening bombard- 
ment which we make on their entrenchments with the 
4.7 guns. From the low hill on which the battery was 
established the whole scene was laid bare. The Boer 
lines run in a great crescent along the hills. Tier above 
tier of trenches have been scored along their sides, and 
the brown streaks run across the grass of the open 
country south of the river. 

" After tea in the captain's cabin, — I should say tent, 
— Commander Limpus, of the Terrible kindly invited 
me to look through the telescope and mark the fall of 
the shots. The glass was one of great power, and I 
could plainly see the figures of the Boers, walking 
about in twos and threes, sitting on the embankments, 
or shovelling away to heighten them. We selected one 
particular group near a kraal, whose range had been 
carefully noted, and the great guns were slowly brought 
to bear on the unsuspecting target. 

" I looked through the spy-hole at the tiny picture — 
three dirty beehives for the kraal, a long breast- 
work of newly thrown up earth, six or seven minia- 
ture men gathered into a little bunch,, two others 
skylarking on the grass behind the trench, apparently 
engaged in a boxing-match. Then I turned to the 
guns. A naval ofiicer craned along the 17-foot barrel, 
peering through the telescopic sights. Another was 
penciling some calculations as to wind, and light, 



132 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

and other intricate details. The crew stood attentive 
around. 

"At last all was done. I looked back to the enemy. 
The group was still intact. The boxers were still play- 
ing—one had pushed the other down. A solitary 
horseman had also come into the picture and was rid- 
ing slowly across. The desire of murder rose in my 
heart. Now for a bag. Bang ! I jumped at least a 
foot, disarranging the telescope ; but there was plenty of 
time to reset it while the shell was hissing and roaring 
its way through nearly five miles of air. 

" I found the kraal again ; the group still there, but 
all motionless and alert, like startled rabbits. Then they 
began to bob into the earth, one after the other. Sud- 
denly, in the middle of the kraal, there appeared a huge 
flash, a billowy ball of smoke and clouds of dust. Bang ! 
I jumped again ; the second gun had fired. But before 
this shell could reach the trenches a dozen little figures 
scampered away, scattering in all directions ; evidently 
the first had not been without effect. But when I 
turned the glass to another part of the defences 
the Boers were working away stolidly, and only 
those near the explosion showed any signs of dis- 
turbance. 

"The bombardment continued for half an hour, the 
shells being flung sometimes into the trenches, some- 
times among the houses of Colenso, and always directed 
with marvellous accuracy. At last the guns were cov- 
ered up agam in their tarpaulins, the crowd of military 



) 


jflipp%<\ 






4 

4 

.g 


IH^^^H 


^Ki 






»• t^^P^r ^^^^H 


P 




i 




t 




|DI 


■,^^^. ' M- 


HHg^ 




B 




s 


^ 


:. ^^ W" J 






^ 


I ^^ 


\ 


■^ 



GENERAL SIR REDVERS H. BULLER. 



IN JANUARY. 133 

Spectators broke up and dispersed amid the tents, and 
soon it became night." 

January 2^. General Buller has commenced the 
withdrawal of General Warren's force to the south 
of the Tugela River. 

January 26. General Warren's force is now on the 
south of the Tugela. 

January 2^/. The transport Assaye has arrived at 
Cape Town with 2,127 officers and men. The first por- 
tion of the 7th Division is afloat. Hence, with ten 
thousand men of this division, and about nine thousand 
others now at sea, it lies in the power of Lord Roberts 
to reinforce General Buller heavily. This course is 
advised by military writers. 

Following is an extract from a letter written in Lady- 
smith, and received in Cape Town on this date : 

" That there are traitors and spies, white as well as 
black, in the garrison of Ladysmith is certain. The 
enemy never fails to receive notice of our movements. 
General Joubert, indeed, is said to have been very angry 
because on one occasion he had not heard of the order 
countermanding a night attack. He complained of 
General White's want of consideration in keeping the 
Burghers out of bed, 

" On Mournful Monday, — the name given by common 
consent to the day of Nicholson's Nek, — the Boers gave 
disastrous proof of acquaintance with our plans by with- 
drawing their main body from the centre of our attack, 
and by preparing an ambush for the Gloucesters and 



134 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Irish Fusiliers. The reconnoissance under Colonel 
Brocklehurst also showed that they had been warned 
in time to change their position. 

" In short, it is impossible to avoid the reflection that 
we are in an enemy's country. The loyalty of the Brit- 
ish colonies is beyond question, but the Dutch element 
in Natal is very strong. Several farmers have been 
caught red-handed, and many civilians and volunteers 
have brothers and cousins fighting on the other side. 
Every project is known and discussed in the volunteer 
line long before the regulars have any idea of it, and 
officers have received countermands of orders that never 
reached them. 

" Only three Europeans — one of whom has since 
mysteriously disappeared — have come from the south, 
Lieutenant Hooper, of the 5th Lancers, having set the 
example by his plucky ride from Colenso. We have 
therefore been dependent upon native runners for any 
news from the outside world, and that news has 
been of the most meagre and untrustworthy kind. 
Even after communication was established by helio- 
graph and flashlight, we were denied the information 
which we were most eager for, the signallers at 
Weenen preferring to send personal and even frivolous 
messages. 

"Our horses and oxen have suffered, the supply of 
fodder being exhausted, and the limited area of grazing 
ground having been cropped to the last blade. Gro- 
ceries have run out ; pure water i§ gcarce ; whiskey 



IN JANUARY. 135 

sells at thirty-five dollars a bottle, and milch cows 
are commandeerd for beef. 

" General Lyttleton's force has been withdrawn south 
of the Tugela River. Kelly-Kenny is now occupying 
Thebus, Cape Colony." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

OPERATIONS AROUND COLESBERG. 

/^^N the first day of the year, General French, who 
^-^ occupied Rensburg, on the Hne of the railroad, set 
out to dislodge the Boers who were holding Colesberg. 
During the two previous days he had been pressing the 
enemy vigorously, and the time had come when a deter- 
mined attack miight produce most important results. 
He left Rensburg on the afternoon of December 31st, 
with cavalry, artillery, and infantry, the latter riding in 
wagons to hasten the advance, — but the details of this 
action will best be told by copying the general's official 
report, which was as follows : 

" Leaving at Rensburg, holding the enemy in front, 
half of the ist Suffolks and a section of the Royal 
Horse Artillery, I started thence at five in the afternoon, 
December 31st, taking with me five squadrons of cav- 
alry, half of the 2d Berks, and eighty mounted infantry, 
infantry carried in wagons, and ten guns. 

"I halted for four hours at Haider's farm, and at 3.30 
next morning occupied the kopje overlooking and west- 
ward of Colesberg. The enemy's outposts were taken 

completely by surprise. At daylight we shelled the 

136 



OPERATIONS AROUND COLESBERG. I37 

laager and enfiladed the right of the enemy's position. 
The artillery fire was very hot from a 15-pounder using 
royal laboratory ammunition, and other guns. 

"We silenced the guns on the enemy's right flank, 
demonstrating with cavalry and guns to the north of 
Colesberg, toward the junction, where a strong laager 
of the enemy was holding a hill and a position southeast 
of Colesberg, as far as the junction. 

" Our position cuts the line of retreat from the road 
and bridge. 

" Some thousands of Boers with two guns are re- 
ported to be retiring toward Norval's Pont. All Rem- 
ington scouts proceeded toward Achterland yesterday 
morning. 

" Slight casualties." 

The British loss was three killed and seven wounded. 

The strength of the Boers was estimated at five thou- 
sand men, and it was believed they suffered severely. 

During the night the republicans were reinforced, 
and that which General French had believed to be a 
retreat, proved simply a change of position. They held 
the hills immediately surrounding Colesberg, thus pre- 
venting the British from entering the town or advanc- 
ing along the railway. 

The fighting was continued at long range on the 
morning of the 2d and the 3d, with no especial 
advantage to either side. On the 3d, reinforcements 
of infantry and artillery were sent to General French 
from De Aar. 



138 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

On the 4th, the Boers pressed the British hard, losing 
no less than fifty killed, and a large number wounded. 
The action was continued at long range throughout the 
5th, and on the next day General French reported as 
follows : 

"The situation is much the same as yesterday, but 
I regret to report that a serious accident happened to 
the first battalion of the Suffolk regiment." 

It appears that, with the authority of General French, 
four companies of the first battalion advanced by night 
against a low hill one mile from their camp. They 
attacked at dawn. Lieutenant-Colonel Watson, com- 
manding, gave orders to charge. He was at once 
wounded. Orders for retirement were given. Three- 
quarters of the force retreated to camp. The remainder 
held their ground until they were overpowered by 
greater numbers, when they surrendered. Seventy 
were taken prisoners, including seven officers. 

On this same day (January 6th), General Forestier- 
Walker reported : 

" Referring to my earlier despatch, to-day, I have to 
report that General French reports, under date of Janu- 
ary 6th, that a medical officer has been sent out to col- 
lect all the wounded to the northeast of Colesberg. 
The exact list of persons missing, French has not yet 
ascertained, — probably about seventy. The first bat- 
talion of the Essex regiment has been sent to replace 
the first battalion of the Suffolk. 

"The position of affairs, tactical and strategic, is 



OPERATIONS AROUND COLESBERG. 1 39 

without alteration. A Boer medical officer admits it 
was intended to leave Colesberg. The enemy's loss, 
day by day, from our fire has been heavy." 

From this time, until January 15th, the situation 
remained practically unchanged, save that the Boers 
were strengthening their position steadily, and on that 
date the republicans assumed the offensive. 

On the morning of the 15th the enemy attempted to 
rush a hill held by a company of the Yorkshires and 
the New Zealanders, 'but they were repulsed at the 
point of the bayonet. 

The Boers had twenty-one men killed and about fifty 
wounded. 

The hill commands a tract of country east of the 
main position of the Boers, and they had determined to 
make an attempt to seize the heights. 

They advanced cautiously, directing their fire at a 
small wall held by the Yorkshires, and compelling the 
latter to keep close under cover. When the Boers 
rushed the wall, the Yorkshires fixed bayonets and 
charged. Just at that moment Captain Haddocks, with 
a small party of New 'Zealanders, came up, and the 
combined force leaped over the wall and charged 
straight for the enemy, who fled, followed by a wither- 
ing fire at close range. 

The Boers literally tumbled over each other in their 
hurry to escape, but the persistent fire of the British 
inflicted a heavy loss. Desultory firing continued for 
some time, but the attack was an utter failure, and the 



140 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Boers retreated to the shelter of the small kopjes at 
the base of the hill. 

The struggle, which continued nearly thirty days, was 
a most determined effort to hold possession of that 
section of the country. Both the British and the Boers 
had been reinforced, and the aim of each was to out- 
manoeuvre the other. The English lines were extended 
east and west until they were in horseshoe form, twenty- 
five miles in length. 

There was no news of importance from Rensburg 
until the 12th of February, when was foreshadowed 
General French's retreat. The despatch read as 
follows : 

"The Boers have driven in the British outposts on 
the western flank to-day, all outposts at Bastards' Nek, 
Hobkirks', Windmill, and other points, retiring to 
Haider's farm." 

On the following day came a stronger note of defeat : 

" The Boers are actively pressing around Rensburg. 
The British force under Lieutenant-Colonel Page, con- 
sisting of a section of artillery and 150 horses, which 
reached Slingersfontein February loth, has been com- 
pelled to fall back on Rensburg, owing to its eastern 
flank being threatened. 

"Yesterday's retirement of the western outposts 
included the withdrawal from Cole's Kop and all the 
surrounding posts. The Boers placed a 40-pounder at 
Bastards' Nek, commanding the surrounding country, 
and successfully shelled the British position. The Boers 



OPERATIONS AROUND COLESBERG. I4I 

numbered some thousands, and were five to one every- 
where fighting occurred. The British are chafing under 
the necessity of a retreat from their posts, some of 
which they have held since the new year. 

"The British now have no camp west of Rensburg. 
They safely brought off the guns from Cole's Kop. 
Severe fighting occurred during the British retreat, the 
various outposts on both sides suffering heavy losses. 
It is doubtful if Rensburg can be held." 

A second despatch, on the following day, gave further 
particulars of the Slingersfontein affair : 

" Early yesterday morning the Boers attacked Sling- 
ersfontein, opening the assault with musketry on the 
hills on the northeast, held by three companies of 
the Worcesters under Captain Hovel. 

" At sunrise, the artillery attack began. The Boers 
approached in great numbers, estimated at seven to one. 
The British, under good cover, sustained the attack 
throughout the day. 

" Meanwhile two big guns on the west opened upon 
the British at daylight and fired during half an hour, 
when a British howitzer silenced them with lyddite, 
the British artillery firing with precision. 

" Then another Boer gun to the north opened on the 
Royal Irish Rifles, but rather ineffectually, as the Rifles 
had good cover, 

" The shelling continued all day, and last evening the 
Boers brought up a 40-pounder, in order to bombard 
the camp from a hill to the north. The attempt was 



142 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

plainly visible, as the gun could be seen being drawn 
up by eighteen oxen. 

"With the Boers surrounding the British in over- 
whelming numbers, and having artillery, it became 
evident that it would be impossible to retain Slingers- 
fontein, which the British evacuated under cover of 
darkness, falling back upon Rensburg. 

" The British casualties were lighter than might have 
been expected in the circumstances." 

The announcement of the retreat was made on the 
same day the previous despatch came to hand (February 
13th), and was sent from Naauwpoort : 

" Very severe fighting occurred on both our flanks, 
near Rensburg. The enemy greatly outnumbered our 
troops, being about four thousand in number. 

" They attacked the Worcestershire regiment on 
their hill, and with desperate determination charged 
home, only to experience such a heavy Maxim and 
rifle fire from our men that the death-roll of the 
assailants must have been considerable. 

"A patrol of the Inniskillen Dragoons was sur- 
rounded by some five hundred Boers, and gallantly 
cut its way through without losing a man ; but a 
company of New South Wales mounted infantry was, 
unfortunately, annihilated, most of the men's bayonets, 
however, bearing the impress of a sanguinary conflict 
with their foes. 

" Colonel Conyngham was shot through the heart 
at the outset of the engagement. The enemy chose 



OPERATIONS AROUND COLESBERG. I43 

the time when the moon was setting, for their on- 
slaught. Out of five colonial officers only one returned 
to camp. 

"A strategic and concentrated move back to Arundel 
was decided upon. Our guns from Cole's Kop have 
been safely removed, one Maxim being destroyed, to 
prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy. Nine 
wounded officers and thirty-five men were brought into 
the Naauwpoort field-hospital. Our death-roll at present 
is not known. 

" Two companies of the Wiltshires, that were on 
outpost duty, failed to join the force before the 
retirement from Rensburg, and their absence not 
being noticed on the parade, they were eventually 
cut off." 

The British commander, however, had no idea of 
leaving Colesberg and Rensburg in the hands of the 
enemy, — indeed, it was of the utmost importance that 
these posts be taken, therefore he continued to harass 
the Boers at every opportunity, but gaining no ad- 
vantage until February 2 2d, when he sent the following 
despatch from Arundel : 

" Colonel Henderson's squadron of the Inniskillens, 
with two guns, reconnoitred westward to Mooifon- 
tein farm, on the direct road to Colesberg and 
Hanover. They arrived close to the Boers in the 
hills, and were fired on. They quickly got their guns 
in position and shelled the hills. Eventually the 
Boers were driven out, retiring northward, when they 



144 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

came under fire of two other guns, supported by a 
company of Australians, near the British western post 
on Dragoon Hill. 

" Colonel Henderson proceeded to Mooifontein farm, 
which he now occupies. The British patrol from Han- 
over also came out that far. 

" The Boers are not in great force. They have been 
persistently followed all day long, and have withdrawn 
a considerable distance northward." 

Six days later, — February 28th, — Lord Roberts 
reported officially : 

" General Clements reports that, on hearing Colesberg 
had been evacuated, he sent a force to occupy Coles- 
berg Junction, and rode into the town, where he 
received an enthusiastic welcome. 

" He secured a certain amount of ammunition, ar- 
rested several rebels, and then returned to Rensburg. 

" He reported the railway line clear and working to 
Lanewalewnans's siding. 

" Colesberg and Colesberg Junction are held by our 
troops." 

The Boers lost no time in retiring from Cape Colony, 
but left behind them a good reputation for kindness to 
a foe, for citizens of Colesberg reported that the re- 
publicans denied themselves many necessaries rather 
than allow the wounded British to suffer. 

A reconnoissance with two troops of Australians and 
two guns found the wagon bridge over the Orange 
River intact. Fifty Boers on the other side were taken 



OPERATIONS AROUND COLESBERG. I45 

by surprise, and the British galloped to their laager, 
some miles on the Free State side. 

The last of the engagements in the northern portion 
of Cape Colony took place at Dordrecht on the 4th 
and 5th of March, and were thus reported : 

"General Brabant's colonial division, after a night's 
march, attacked the Boers this morning in a strong 
position at Labuschagne's Nek, on the road from 
Dordrecht to Jamestown. 

" The engagement proceeded with great vigour, the 
Boers gradually retiring before the British shell fire 
from three positions. A heavy rifle fire was exchanged 
when the British engaged the Boers on the right flank. 

" General Brabant's advance was most satisfactory. 
Toward night, the British force reached the strong, en- 
trenched position, which they occupied and now hold, 
the Boers being on the opposite hill. 

" The British will remain to-night in the captured 
positions, although the Boers brought two guns into 
action and made a determined effort to retake them. 
The British losses were six killed and eighteen 
wounded." 

"Following yesterday's success, General Brabant 
again engaged the Boers to-day with advantage, hold- 
ing the position already captured. 

" There was some smart fighting this morning, the 
British losing five or six men, capturing the Boer fort, 
and thus vastly improving their position. 

" The Boers fought tenaciously, contesting every 



146 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. ' 

inch of the ground, but ultimately they retreated 
suddenly, carrying off their guns and wagons. 

" The British casualties during the two days were 
thirteen killed, and thirty wounded. The Boer losses 
are unknown." 

The way to Bloemfontein was opened to the British. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CiESAR's CAMP AND WAGON HILL. 

AMONG the many stories of heroism which have 
been told regarding the brave men who were be- 
sieged in Ladysmith, and the hardly less brave men 
who stood in the ranks of the besiegers, there is none 
more thrilling than that of the Boer attack upon 
Caesar's Camp and Wagon Hill. 

It began at 1.45 o'clock on the morning of January 
6th, and did not end until 7.30 in the evening. Some 
of the British entrenchments on Wagon Hill were taken 
three times by the Boers, and as often regained by the 
defenders. One point of the British position was occu- 
pied by the Boers during the whole day, but at night- 
fall, under cover of a heavy rain-storm, the Devonshire 
regiment succeeded in turning them out at the point of 
the bayonet. 

The chief Boer attacks were directed at Caesar's 
Camp and Wagon Hill, which were defended by the 
Manchester regiment and the Gordon Highlanders. 
Coming up from the south by the way of Fouries 
Spruit, the Boers assaulted three times with the great- 
est obstinacy and vigour, sometimes obtaining a foot. 

147 



148 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

hold, and again falling back before the British bayonet 
charge. 

Meanwhile the latter, as commando after commando 
came up from Colenso to reinforce the fighting lines, 
gradually spread over the whole circle of entrenchments, 
including the great Boer forts on Mt. Isimbulwana and 
Lombard's Kop. 

A letter written in Ladysmith by one who wit- 
nessed the spirited attack and defence, gives the best 
description of the scene yet published : 

"The enemy to-day made a determined effort to cap- 
ture two positions — Caesar's Camp and Wagon Hill. 
The latter is a lofty eminence to the southwest, posses- 
sion of which would have brought them within rifle- 
range of the town. Caesar's Camp was held by the 
1st Battalion of the Manchester regiment. The posi- 
tion was separated from that of the Boers by a rocky 
ravine. 

" In the early hours of the morning, under cover of 
darkness, the Heidelberg commando succeeded in evad- 
ing our pickets, making their way through the thorn- 
bush, and reaching the foot of the slope at half-past two. 
The alarm was raised by our sentries, but, before the 
full extent of the danger could be realised, the outlying 
sangas had been rushed and their defenders slain. 

" On hearing the firing, two companies of the Gordon 
Highlanders went to the assistance of the Man ch esters. 
At first it was thought that the Boers were concen- 
trating on the southern slope, where they had already 



CAESARS CAMP AND WAGON HILL. 1 49 

secured a footing on the plateau. Here, however, their 
advance was checked by the steady volleys of our 
infantry and the deadly fire of an automatic gun. 

" Lieut. Hunt Grubbe went out to see if any aid 
was needed by the troops stationed on the ridge near 
the town. He was not aware that the enemy had al- 
ready captured the breastworks, and called out to the 
sergeant. He received the reply, ' Here I am, sir ! ' and 
then he suddenly disappeared from sight. Captain Car- 
negie, suspecting a ruse, ordered the Gordons to fire a 
volley and to charge. The enemy thereupon fell back 
precipitately, leaving behind them the officer whom they 
had captured with so much presence of mind. The 
lieutenant was quite unhurt. 

" It was now evident that the camp was being assailed 
on the left flank and on the front. By daybreak rein- 
forcements of Gordon Highlanders and of the Rifle 
Brigade had been hurried up to the fighting line. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Dick-Cunnyngham, who was leading the 
Gordons out of camp, fell mortally wounded, being hit 
by a stray bullet while still close to the town. 

"The 53d Battery of field-artillery, under Major 
Abdy, crossed the Klip River and shelled the ridge 
and reverse slope of the front position, where the 
enemy were lying among the thorn-bushes. 

" The shrapnel, which flew over our heads, did terri- 
ble execution. It effectually held the Boers in check, 
and rendered it impossible for them to send reinforce- 
ments to their men through the ravine. The enemy 



150 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

fought throughout with the most stubborn courage, 
being evidently determined to take the camp or die in 
the attempt. Their 6-inch gun on Umbulwana Moun- 
tain, and its smaller satellites, threw more than a hun- 
dred shells at Abdy's battery and at the troops on the 
hill. Our troops, however, were not less gallant and 
resolved, and the enemy was pressed back, step by step, 
until, at length, those who were left broke and fled in 
utter disorder. 

"A terrific storm of rain and hail, accompanied by 
peals of thunder, had burst over the camp during the 
fighting. This served to swell the streams into raging 
torrents. In their efforts to escape, numbers of the 
enemy flung themselves into the current and were swept 
away. The struggle in this part of the field was now 
ended, and the finale was a terrific fusilade all along the 
line, the crash of which almost drowned the incessant 
thunder above. 

" Meanwhile a more exciting contest was in progress 
■ in the direction of Wagon Hill. At two o'clock in the 
morning a storming party, furnished by the Harrismith 
commando, crept slowly and cautiously along a donga 
in the valley, which divides our posts from their camp.- 
A few well-aimed rifle-shots killed our pickets. Tak- 
ing advantage of every inch of cover, the Boers then 
gradually reached the crest of the heights. 

" Here a body of Light Horse was posted, but they 
were forced to retire before the advance of the Free 
Staters, there being no breastworks for defence on the 



C^SARS CAMP AND WAGON HILL. I5I 

western shoulder of the hill. With little to impede 
their progress, the enemy soon came to an emplacement, 
where they surprised working parties of the Gordon 
Highlanders and the 60th Rifles. 

" Lieut. Digby Jones, of the Royal Engineers, col- 
lected a handful of men, and made a gallant effort to 
hold the position, but the numbers were against him, 
and after a stubborn resistance he was driven back, and 
the enemy got possession of the summit. Even then, 
however, the Free Staters were afraid to venture far or 
face the heavy fire from the sanga. Here it was that 
Lieutenant McNaughton and thirty of the Gordons were 
captured, although not until every man among them was 
wounded. 

"At five o'clock Colonel Edwards, with two squad- 
rons of Light Horse, and the 21st Battery of the 
Royal Field Artillery, under Major Blewitt, came into 
action, preventing the storming party being reinforced 
from the Boer camp. 

"At the same time, the i8th Hussars and the 5th 
Lancers checked the movement from the spruit on our 
right flank. Nevertheless, our position at this point had 
become critical. Our men had retired for cover behind 
the northern slope, while the enemy had made their way 
into the pass dividing them from the hill. Major Bowen 
rallied a few of the Rifles, but fell while leading them 
to the charge. His example was at once followed by 
Lieutenant Tod, but the latter met the same fate. 

" The enemy were making good the footing they 



152 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

had already secured in the enplacement, when Maj. 
Miller Walnutt, calling the scattered Gordons together, 
charged in and drove them back. Having thus cleared 
the ground, he joined Lieut. Digby Jones in a newly 
prepared emplacement on the western shoulder. 

" A pause ensued for a time. The Boers were not 
yet finally beaten. Taking advantage of the storm now 
raging, they essayed to capture the position by another 
rush. Three of their leaders reached the parapet, but 
were shot down by Lieut. Digby Jones and Major Wal- 
nutt, the latter of whom also fell. 

"The renewed check effectually discouraged the 
assailants, and the deadly duel was now practically at 
an end. Nevertheless, small parties of the braver 
spirits kept up a murderous fire on our men from be- 
hind the rocks. 

" The moment had evidently arrived to strike a final 
blow, and Colonel Park quickly issued the necessary 
orders. Three companies of Devonshires, led by Cap- 
tain Lafone, Lieutenant Field, and Lieutenant Master- 
son, made a brilliant charge across the open under a 
terrific fire, and fairly hurled the enemy down the hill 
at the point of the bayonet. In the course of the 
struggle Captain Lafone and Lieutenant Field were 
killed, and Lieutenant Masterson received no fewer 
than ten wounds. 

"This was a fitting close to a struggle which had 
lasted sixteen hours, during which every rifle and gun 
had been brought to bear. Our position was now 



C^SARS CAMP AND WAGON HILL. 1 53 

secure. The attacks on the north and east had also 
been repulsed, and the grand assault had failed all 
along the line. The Boers lost heavily. They admit 
the engagement was the most severe blow their arms 
had sustained since the opening of the campaign. They 
were confident of their ability to capture the town, and 
had called upon reinforcements from Colenso to assist 
at the expected victory. Our losses also were consider- 
able. 

" Early in the morning the Earl of Ava was mortally 
wounded while accompanying Col. Ian Hamilton to the 
scene of action." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 

General 311116/8 Expedition for the Relief of Ladysmith. 

T N no better way can the general outlines of what has 
-■- been called " the Spion Kop Campaign," which was 
the first of a series of manoeuvres for the relief of Lady- 
smith, be described than by a condensing and putting 
together of the reports made by the English newspaper 
correspondents. In order that General Buller's work 
may be thoroughly understood and appreciated, it is 
well to have the outline clearly in mind before reading 
the detail of the work. 

The united information of the correspondents shows 
that the operation which began January ii, 1899, and 
ended with Buller once more going back across the 
Tugela on January 25th, was far more dramatic than 
could be imagined from the cabled despatches. 

Men whose lives have been spent in describing fight- 
ing of every kind, in every corner of the globe, declare 
Buller's movement to have been one of the most care- 
fully planned and intensely interesting, from a military 
point of view, that has marked the war history of the 

154 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 55 

world ; while the fighting on Spion Kop is painted in 
vivid colours that mark it as one of the most spectacular, 
yet awful, events in the present war. 

Starting from Chieveley on January nth, General 
Buller brought his forces slowly to the south bank of 
the Tugela. Only a favoured few knew what his inten- 
tions were, but when within striking distance of the 
Tugela, there developed this plan of action : 

Seven battalions, twenty-two guns, and three hundred 
horse under Lyttleton, to mask the Potgieter position ; 
twelve battalions, thirty-six guns, and sixteen hundred 
horse to cross five miles to the westward, and make a 
turning movement against the enemy's right. The 
Boer covering army was to be swept back on Ladysmith 
by a powerful left arm, the pivoting shoulder of which 
was at Potgieter' s, the elbow at Trichard's drift, and the 
enveloping hand — the cavalry and the Lord Dundonald 
— stretching out toward Acton Homes. 

Every step was made as planned. The Tugela was 
crossed, with practically no resistance, on January 20th. 

The first position taken was a sugar-loaf hill on the 
left flank. When the squadron reached the summit 
the hill was deserted. Corporal Tobin especially dis- 
tinguished himself in the ascent, being foremost through- 
out, and, aided by an athletic physique, he managed to 
reach the summit some paces before his comrades, to 
whom he shouted : " Come on ; there is no one here." 
Tobin is an American. 

The following day the Boers resisted in earnest. 



156 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The advance into the jaws of death had its amusing 
as well as its sad incidents. During the ascent, while 
bullets were flitting by, and a man went down now and 
again and had to be carried to the rear, two privates 
were very busy, one munching an army biscuit, the 
other flicking small pebbles at him. 

Suddenly, what appeared to the man with the biscuit 
as a particularly sharp stone hit him on the neck, and 
he turned around indignantly and demanded : 

" Say, Bill, did you chuck that stone at me ? " 

Bill denied the charge, and rejoined : 

"Why, mate, you're wounded." 

And he was. A bullet had passed through the right 
side of his neck, then into the fleshy part of his shoul- 
der, and ended its career by lodging underneath the 
skin of the upper part of his arm. An officer dug out 
the bullet with his penknife, and Bill, his comrade, 
passed him to the ambulance down hill, plaintively reit- 
erating that he had "chucked" no stone. 

The British fought from kopje to kopje, and then 
were at a deadlock. There had been four days' fight- 
ing. The first had been distinctly successful; the 
British troops had forced the enemy back from all his 
advanced positions ; the infantry had fought splendidly, 
and the losses, considering the strength of the position 
they had been attacking, had not been great. 

Now, however, they had come to the main line of 
defence. Three days' fighting had not improved the 
British position. The Boer was probably stronger, for 




BRITISH TROOPS ASCENDING SPION KOP AT NIGHT. 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. I57 

he had brought up more guns and improved his en- 
trenchments. It was obvious, therefore, that the 
British could not hope for success in that direction, and 
so the attack on Spion Kop was ordered. 

According to another account, the attack on Spion 
Kop, which was beheved to dominate the Boer positions, 
was not decided until after a council of war, in which 
General Buller, while personally favouring an immediate 
retreat across the Tugela, allowed himself to be gov- 
erned by the entreaties of his subordinates. 

Of the ascent of Spion Kop a correspondent writes : 

" The night was intensely dark. The troops were 
led by the guides over rocky ridges and through dongas, 
and in single file the long line of silent figures crept 
up the height. 

" The crest of the mountain, fully two thousand feet 
above its base, was reached about 3.30 a. m. Wednesday, 
January 24th. Bayonets were now fixed, and the men 
peered intently through the blackness ahead. Suddenly, 
at four o'clock in the morning, when a third of the entire 
length of the plateau had been cautiously traversed, a 
Kaffir was heard singing out the alarm in Dutch. A 
sentry challenged, and the Fusiliers, levelling bayonets, 
charged with a cheer. An officer bayonetted the 
sentry. The Boers thereupon fired a wild volley, and 
bolted into the darkness. 

"The first trench had been won without the loss of 
a man on our side, and the column sent up a ringing 
cheer. About 5 a. m. the second trench was taken. 



158 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

"About eight o'clock the misty cloud-cap over Spion 
Kop melted away sufficiently to enable the Boers, who 
were now crowding in thousands on the ridge, and in 
hundreds behind the rocks and in the trenches across 
the northern extremity, as well as nearly up to the 
centre of the mountain crest, to open a concentrated 
fire upon our devoted battalions. The hail-like rattle 
of the Boer rifles was vigorously replied to. 

" General Woodgate, who was detailed by General 
Warren to effect the capture of the position, walked 
to and fro, amid the never-ceasing whistle of flying 
bullets, to direct his men. Early in the engagement 
the general was shot over the left eye as he was coolly 
watching the effects of our fire. He was carried to the 
rear, suffering acute pain, but exclaimed : ' Let me 
alone. Let me alone.' " 

Of the fierce fighting that followed all that day on 
Spion Kop there are many brilliant accounts, but none 
more so than that of Winston Churchill. 

" The troops/' he writes, " were driven almost entirely 
off the main plateau, and the Boers succeeded in reoc- 
cupying some of their trenches. 

" A frightful disaster was narrowly averted. About 
twenty men in one of the captured trenches abandoned 
their resistance, threw up their hands, and called out 
that they would surrender. Colonel Thorneycroft, whose 
great stature made him everywhere conspicuous, and 
who was from dawn till dusk in the first firing line, 
rushed to the spot. 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 59 

" The Boers, advancing to take the prisoners, as at 
Nicholson's Nek, v/ere scarcely thirty yards away. 
Thorneycroft shouted to the Boer leader : 

" ' You may go to h — 1 ! I command on this hill, 
and allow no surrender. Go on with your firing.' 

"Which, later, they did with terrible effect, killing 
many. 

" The survivors, with the rest of the firing line, fled 
two hundred yards, were rallied by their indomitable 
commander, and, being reinforced by two brave com- 
panies of the Middlesex regiment, charged back, recov- 
ering all lost ground, and the position was maintained 
until nightfall. 

" No words in these days of extravagant expression 
can do justice to the glorious endurance which the 
English regiments — for they were all English — dis- 
played throughout the long, dragging hours of hell 
fire. 

" A village of ambulance wagons grew up at the foot 
of the mountain. The dead and injured, smashed and 
broken by the shells, littered the summit till it was a 
bloody, reeking shambles. Thirst tormented the soldiers, 
for, though water was at hand, the fight was too close 
and furious to give even a moment's breathing space. 
But nothing could weaken the stubborn vigour of the 
defence. The artillery, unable to find or reach the 
enemy's guns, could only tear up the ground in impo- 
tent fury. Night closed in with the British still in 
possession of the hill." 



l6o FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Describing his endeavour to get up the hill, a corre- 
spondent says : 

" Streams of wounded met us and obstructed the 
path. Corpses lay here and there. Many of the 
wounds were of a horrible nature. The splinters and 
fragments of the shells had torn and mutilated in the 
most ghastly manner. I passed about two hundred 
while I was climbing up. 

" There was, moreover, a small, but steady leakage 
of unwounded men of all corps. Some of these cursed 
and swore. Others were utterly exhausted, and fell on 
the hillside in stupour. Others, again, seemed drunk, 
though they had had no liquor. Scores were sleeping 
heavily." 

Later that night an informal council of war was called, 
and Sir Charles Warren, from below the hill, sent Mr. 
Churchill to ascertain Colonel Thorneycroft's views. 
When the correspondent reached the crest he found 
only one solid battalion remained, the Dorsets. All 
others were intermingled. 

" Amid this disorganised, but determined force," 
Mr, Churchill writes, " I found Colonel Thorneycroft, 
at the top of the mountain. Every one seemed to 
know, even in the confusion, where he was. He was 
sitting on the ground, surrounded by the remnants of 
the regiment he had raised, who had fought for him 
like lions and followed him like dogs. 

" I explained the situation as I had been told, and as 
I thought. Naval guns were prepared to try, sappers 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. l6l 

and working parties were already on the road with 
thousands of sand-bags. What did he think ? 

" But the decision had already been taken. He had 
never received any messages from the general, had not 
had time to write any. Messages had been sent him, 
he had wanted to send others himself. The fight had 
been too hot, too close, too interlaced, for him to 
attend to anything but to support this company, 
clear those rocks, or line that trench. So, having 
heard nothing, and expecting no guns, he had decided 
to retire. As he put it, tersely : ' Better six good bat- 
talions safely down the hill, than a mob up in the 
morning.' " 

The retrograde movement was effected in a masterly 
manner without loss. General Buller conducted this 
movement in person. He was almost incessantly in 
the saddle for over two days and nights. Only a man 
of iron nerves like his could rise superior to such an 
unfortunate miscarriage of his plans. 

Such was the fifth of the series of actions called the 
battle of Spion Kop. It was an event which the British 
people may regard with feelings of equal pride and sad- 
ness. It redounds to the honour of the soldiers, though 
not greatly to that of the generals. 

It was on the nth of January, at 9.30 p.m., that 
General Buller telegraphed from Springfield, Natal : 

"I occupied the south bank of the Tugela River at 
Potgieter's drift this morning, and seized the bridge. 
The river is in a flood. 



1 62 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" The enemy is strongly entrenched about four and 
one half miles to the north." 

General Buller was hardly prepared for the advance 
which he contemplated on an elaborate scale, and the 
strategical scheme of flanking his opponents. The rein- 
forcements he had received after falling back from 
Colenso placed him in command of more than thirty 
thousand men. General Sir Charles Warren had joined 
him, — an officer whose Griqualand expedition years 
ago earned for him a reputation of being able to out- 
manoeuvre the Boers in their own peculiar style of 
fighting and on their own grounds. 

From Estcourt, Warren was in a position to start 
on a long flanking movement, either to the east by 
Weenen or to the west by Bethany, making a semi- 
circle to Ladysmith. Buller, with his headquarters 
at Frere, could make an inner movement, choosing 
his point of crossing the Tugela, either directly in 
front, or by turning movements on either side. He 
chose the left, or westward route, and keeping his 
plans secret, was able to announce the first success- 
ful step of his advance in his despatch from Potgieter's 
drift. 

This ford is a little to the westward of the junction 
of the Tugela with its southern branch, the Little Tugela 
River. The road from Frere would pass along the foot 
of a range of mountains on the right hand. British cav- 
alry scouts had, some days previously, come across part 
of the Boers at Potgieter's drift, and it was ascertained 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 163 

that General Joubert was making a fortified position in 
the neighbourhood. 

When Buller had gained the drift, his first new step 
was to inform himself as to the locality and strength of 
this position. It was, he said, about four and one-half 
miles in front, away from the river, and of a strong 
character. Five days passed in deliberate preparation 
for continuing the march to Dewdrop. Not only had 
the transport of the column been steadily brought up, 
but it was necessary the relief supplies for Ladysmith 
should be close in the rear. 

General Warren's column acted in cooperation with 
Buller's advance-guard, by moving in a parallel line on 
the west. 

The Boer commander made the following report of 
the situation, under date of January 19th : 

"The British now occupy three positions along the 
Tugela River. Their naval guns have been firing steel- 
pointed armour piercing shells. 

" Reports being received that two thousand British 
cavalry were attempting to outflank us along the Dra- 
kensberg ridge, a strong patrol was sent to reconnoitre. 
Mistaking the signals, the scouts and patrol proceeded 
to a kopje, from whence a terrific rifle and Maxim gun 
fire suddenly opened. 

" The Boers lost fourteen men killed, and twenty 
wounded. The British loss was probably insignificant. 

"The bombardment of the Boer positions from 
Swartzkop was resumed yesterday, chiefly from a bat- 



164 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

tery brought across the river. In the afternoon the 
cannonade became exceedingly brisk, and under cover 
thereof the infantry advanced in three lines to a second 
row of Httle kopjes, which they occupied at nightfall ; 
but later they retired to their old position. 

" During the night a score of shells were fired by the 
British, and a balloon was sent up to spy out the Boer 
positions. 

"The naval guns resumed the bombardment this 
morning from a new position, but without results. 

"The three British positions are the old Chieveley 
camp nearest Colenso ; the central position at Swartz- 
kop drift, where they hold both banks of the river, and 
a position higher up, in the direction of Zuncles, where 
they have bridged the river and established an immense 
commissariat. On the summit of the terraces at Swartz- 
kop they have placed five naval guns, and have brought 
the field-artillery across the river to a small kopje on the 
northern bank, whence they keep up an incessant and 
terrific cannonade on the Boer trenches. 

" Since the first of the week communication with the 
different positions has been kept up under the ordeal 
of this cannonade, the casualties resulting from it being 
heavier than those that occurred at Colenso. One of 
the shells from the naval guns killed a father and son. 
Free Staters, who were chatting at the time. Strangely, 
neither had any visible wound." 

On the 20th of January, in order to relieve the pres- 
sure on General Warren, and to ascertain the strength 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 65 

of the Boers in front of Potgieter's drift, at Ventor's 
Spruit, General Lyttleton made a reconnoissance in 
force, which kept the Boers in the trenches all day. 
Two killed, twelve wounded, and two missing, was the 
price paid by the English. 

The British lines were advanced about a thousand 
yards. During the night which followed, the Boers 
maintained an irregular fire, but the British outposts 
did not reply. 

Next morning, at daybreak, the Boers opened a stiff 
fire. The British stood to the guns, where they had 
slept, and the engagement was resumed vigorously. The 
field-artillery poured sharpnel into the enemy's trenches. 

A rumour that Ladysmith had been relieved enlivened 
the British, who sent up a ringing cheer. This was 
taken for an advance. The first kopje was carried at 
the point of the bayonet, and the Boers retreated to the 
next kopje, which, like most others, was strewn with 
immense boulders, surmounted by mounds on the 
summit. 

The British advanced steadily, and the Boers relaxed 
slightly. The latter did not show such tenacity as 
previously. Their Nordenveldts were fired at long 
intervals, and their cannon but seldom. 

All day the roar of musketry continued. The British 
took three Boer positions on the mountain, and found 
shelter behind the boulders. 

Regarding General Warren's work on this day, 
General Buller reported : 



1 66 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" He has swung forward about a couple of miles. 
The ground is very difficult, and, as the fighting is all 
the time up-hill, it is difficult to say exactly how much 
we have gained, but I think we are making substantial 
progress." 

The Boer report concerning this engagement is as 
follows : 

" Signs were discovered of an intended movement in 
the British northern camp. When the heat, which was 
more frightful than any yet experienced, had worn off, 
the British cannon started in full force, and their infantry 
advanced in extended order. 

"Generals Botha and Cronje held the high hills over 
which the road to Ladysmith passed. When the Mauser 
fire opened, a pandemonium of sound filled the air. The 
vindictive crash of lyddite shells, the sharp volleys of 
Lee-Metfords, and the whip-like crack of Mausers were 
interspersed with the Boer Maxims. The battle ended 
with darkness, but not without evidences of execution 
among the British, which were manifest at sunrise. 
Field Cornet Ernst Emilio was killed, nor did the 
generals escape unscathed. 

"At the central position, Swartzkop, where the other 
road to Ladysmith crosses the hills, the British advanced 
from low kopjes on the banks of the Tugela unmolested. 
Then they entered the zone of the Mauser fire, and 
although their naval guns kept up the usual terrible 
racket, the advance was stopped, and the British had 
to count out their dead and wounded.. 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 67 

" Commandant Viijeon and two Burghers were 
knocked senseless by an explosion of lyddite, but 
Commandant Viijeon recovered. Field Cornet Heil- 
bron was wounded, and, on refusing to surrender, was 
shot, 

"The British loss was probably insignificant. They 
complain that sporting Mausers were found on the 
field, and softened bullets with Lee-Metfords. The 
Boers admit that sporting Mausers were occasionally 
found, but they deny the charge respecting ' expansive 
bullets. Not a shot was fired by the Boers with 
cannon or rifles at the Swartzkop position, this side 
of the river. 

" One thousand infantry and a battery advanced yes- 
terday to the second row of low hills between the re- 
publicans and the river. Heavy cannonading proceeded 
at a range of two thousand yards, but the federals 
maintained the silence of death. This must have 
staggered the British, as the advance was stopped, 
and this morning they had retired to their old position." 

On the evening of January 23d General Buller 
telegraphed : 

" Warren holds the position he gained two days ago. 
In front of him, at about fourteen hundred yards, is the 
enemy's position, west of Spion Kop. It is on higher 
ground than Warren's position, so it is impossible to 
see it properly. It can only be approached over bare, 
open slopes, and the ridges held by Warren are so 
steep that guns cannot be placed on them, but we 



1 68 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

are shelling the enemy's position with howitzers and 
field-artillery, placed on lower ground behind in- 
fantry. The enemy is replying with Creusot and 
other artillery. 

" In this duel the advantage rests with us, as we 
appear to be searching his trenches, and his artillery 
fire is not causing us much loss. 

" An attempt will be made to-night to seize Spion 
Kop, the salient point of which forms the left of the 
enemy's position, facing Trichard's drift, and which 
divides it. from the position facing Potgieter's drift. It 
has considerable command over all the enemy's entrench- 
ments." 

Thirty hours later General Buller telegraphed : 

" General Warren's troops last night occupied Spion 
Kop, surprising the small garrison, who fled. It has 
been held by us all day, though we were heavily attacked, 
especially by a very annoying shell fire. 

" I fear our casualties are considerable, and I have 
to inform you, with regret, that General Woodgate was 
dangerously wounded. 

" General Warren is of the opinion that he has ren- 
dered the enemy's position untenable." 

Spion Kop is a precipitous mountain overtopping the whole 
line of kopjes along the upper Tugela. On the eastern side the 
mountain faces Mount Alice and Potgieter's drift, standing at 
right angles to the Boer central position and Lyttleton's advanced 
position. 

The southern point descends in abrupt steps to the lower line 
of kopjes. On the western side, opposite tlae right outposts of 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 69 

Warren's forces, it is inaccessibly steep, until the point where the 
neck joins the kop to the main range. Then there is a gentle 
slope, which allows easy access to the summit. 

The neck was strongly held by the Boers, who also occupied 
a heavy spur parallel with the kop, where the enemy was con- 
cealed in no fewer than thirty-five rifle-pits, and was thus enabled 
to bring to bear a damaging cross-fire, the only possible point 
for a British attack being the southern side, with virtually sheer 
precipices on the left and right. 

A narrow footpath, admitting men in single file only, to the 
summit, opens to a perfect table-land, probably three hundred 
square yards area, upon which the Boers had hastily commenced 
to make a transverse trench. The English were able to occupy 
the farther end of this table-land, where the ridge descended to 
another flat, which was again succeeded by a round, stony emi- 
nence, held by the Boers in great strength. 

The ridge held by the British force was faced by a number of 
strong little kopjes at all angles, whence the Boers sent a concen- 
trated fire from their rifles, supported by a Maxim-Nordenfeldt 
and a big long-range gun. What with the rifles, and the machine 
guns, and the big gun, the summit was converted into a perfect 
hell. The shells exploded continually in the British ranks, and 
the rifle fire, from an absolutely unseen enemy, was perfectly 
appalling. 

Reinforcements were hurried up by General Warren, but they 
had to cross a stretch of flat ground, which was literally torn up 
by the flying lead of the enemy. The unfinished trench on the 
summit gave very questionable shelter, as the enemy's machine 
guns were so accurately ranged upon the place that often sixteen 
shells fell in the trench in a single minute. 

Mortal men could not permanently hold such a position. The 
British held it tenaciously twenty-four hours, and then, taking 
advantage of the dark night, abandoned it to the enemy. 

General Woodgate was wounded about two o'clock in the 
afternoon. Even then he protested that he was all right, and he 
had to be held down on the stretcher. 



1 70 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

A Boer despatch from upper Tugela gave the follow- 
ing information relative to the British abandonment of 
Spion Kop : 

Early this morning some Vryheid Burghers from the 
outposts on the highest hills of the Spion Kop group 
rushed into the laager, saying that the kop was lost, 
and that the English had taken it. Reinforcements 
were ordered up, but nothing could be done for some 
time, the hill being enveloped in a thick mist. 

At dawn the Heidelberg and Carolina contingents, 
supplemented from other commandoes, began the 
ascent of the hill. Three spurs, precipitous projec- 
tions, faced the Boer positions. Up these the advance 
was made. The horses were left under the first ter- 
race of rocks. 

While scaling the kop, the Boers found that the 
English had improved the opportunity and entrenched 
heavily. Between the lines of trenches was an open 
veldt, which had to be rushed under a heavy fire, not 
only from rifles, but of lyddite and shrapnel from field- 
guns. 

Three forces ascended the three spurs coordinately, 
under cover of fire from the Free State Krupps, a 
Creusot, and a big Maxim. The English tried to rush 
the Boers with the bayonet, but their infantry went 
down before the Boer rifle fire as before a scythe. 

The Boer investing party advanced step by step until 
two o'clock in the afternoon, when a white flag went up, 
and one hundred and fifty men in the front trenches 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 171 

surrendered, and were sent as prisoners to the head 
laager. 

The Boer advance continued on the two kopjes east 
of Spion Kop. Many Boers were shot, but so numer- 
ous were the Burghers that the gaps filled automati- 
cally. Toward twilight they reached the summit of 
the second kopje, but did not get farther. 

The British Maxims belched flame, but a wall of fire 
from the Mausers held the English back. Their centre, 
under this pressure, graduall}/- gave way and broke, 
abandoning the position. 

The prisoners speak highly of the bravery of the 
Burghers, who, despising cover, stood against the sky- 
line edges of the summit to shoot the Dublin Fusiliers 
sheltered in the trenches. 

Firing continued some time, and then the Fusiliers 
and the* Light Horse, serving as infantry, threw up their 
arms and rushed out of the trenches. 

The effect of the abandonment of Spion Kop by the 
English can hardly be gauged as yet, but it must prove 
to be immense. 

General Buller reported his loss on January 24th as, 
killed, six officers, twenty-four non-commissioned officers 
and privates. Wounded, twelve officers, one hundred 
and forty-two non-commissioned officers and men ; miss- 
ing, thirty-one. 

A young medical officer of the British forces thus 
described his personal experience at Spion Kop in a 
private letter : 



172 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" I selected a pass overhung by steep clay banks, on 
the top of which I got up a Red Cross flag. Cases now 
began to pour down from Spion Kop on stretchers. 
The Boers opened on us, and three bullets went into 
the fire, knocking the sticks about. The reason for 
this was not the Red Cross flag, but owing to some 
Tommies who were strolling over to it, either to take 
cover there or to see what we were doing. I promptly 
ordered them away. 

" A few minutes after, the Boers let fire five shells 
in quick succession in our direction, but they fell short, 
and did no harm. This sort of thing went on around 
me for the rest of the day, but I always kept well in 
the shelter of the bank. 

"From this time to ten o'clock the next morning, the 
wounded came through my dressing-station, as the pass 
was the only exit from the hill, I saw every case, and 
some of them were mutilated beyond description. 

" Fully three hundred and thirty wounded and dead 
who had died on the way passed through my hands. 
The cheerfulness of the wounded struck me as remark- 
able, — men with shattered limbs smoking their pipes, 
and, although starving, not a grumble did I hear. Many 
a poor chap shot in the morning in the front trenches, 
who could not be reached, lay in the blazing sun all 
day. 

" One old colonial in Thorneycroft's, with a gray 
beard, walked down, leaning on his rifle ; he was a 
mass of wounds ; one ear cut through by a bullet, his 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 73 

chin, neck, and chest also pierced by many a ball, and 
his back and legs torn by shell. He said he had just 
dropped in to let me take his finger off, because it was 
so shattered he could not pull the trigger of his rifle, as 
it got in the way of the next finger, which he could use,, 
for he wanted to get back up the hill to pay the Dutch- 
men out. Of course I would not let him go away. 

"The bullet wounds are beautifully clean; just a 
little round hole, and, as a rule, do not do much 
damage, as they often go through the bone without 
shattering it, and bleed but little. The shell wounds 
are hideous. 

"It was now frightfully dark, and I put one of the 
lanterns on a stick as a direction light to my pass ; a 
group of soldiers returning to the hill tried to run away 
with it, and I would have lost it, only I snatched up a 
rifle from a wounded man and shouted I would shoot 
them if they did not bring it back. They dropped it 
and ran away, and it went out, but I got it again. 

" Shortly after this, both lanterns went out, and I had 
a pretty bad time, as the path often got blocked with 
wounded. Finally I could send no more wounded 
across the drift, and had to stack them, with the dead, 
in rows on the grass. I collected all the disabled offi- 
cers on stretchers around me, and gave them brandy 
and a hypodermic of morphine. 

"The morning light began to dawn about 4.30, and 
lit up the ghastly faces of the patients around me. My 
men now built a fire, got ready beef-tea and coffee, and 



i74 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

I had a lunch, the first meal since dinner the day before, 
and after giving the wounded some as well, I sent them 
on the ambulance across the drift. 

" Commandants Botha and Burgess, who were the 
Boer generals, came now on the scene. The former, 
who was the chief general, is a small, thin man, with 
yellowish beard and hair, and had a magnificent rifle 
beautifully carved with his name and a text .from the 
Bible. He was followed by an interpreter, and a couple 
of mounted Kaffirs, carrying his ammunition and water- 
bottle. He seemed, however, to understand English, 
though he refused to speak it. There were quite a 
number of German officers. I heard that one of them 
had been killed. 

" They let our men search the dead for their identifi- 
cation cards, letters and money. It was very sad to see 
the things we found in their pockets, — love-letters, 
Christmas cards, little pocket-books with accounts, half- 
finished letters. Several of the Boers handed in little 
articles they found, — a check for ten shillings, a purse 
with money, etc. Some of the officers had trinkets 
around their necks. 

" One poor chap wore a locket with a spray of white 
heather, and we were forced to cut the name off his 
shirt and pin it to the locket, as a means of identifica- 
tion. I am sorry to say that a number had had their 
fingers cut off, that the rings might be removed. The 
Boers declared they did not know who did it, and were 
indignant." 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 175 

The official Boer report of losses at Spion Kop is 
fifty-three killed, one hundred and twenty wounded. 

The first manoeuvre for the relief of Ladysmith was 
come to an end, and General Buller thus made official 
announcement of the fact, dating his despatch from 
Spearman's Camp, January 27th, at 6 p. m. 

" On January 20th, Warren drove back the enemy 
and obtained possession of the southern crests of the 
high table-land extending from the line of Acton Homes 
and Monger's Poort to the western Ladysmith hill. 
From then to January 25 th he remained in close con- 
tact with the enemy. 

"The enemy held a strong position on a range of 
small kopjes stretching from northwest to southeast 
across the plateau from Acton Homes, through Spion 
Kop, to the left bank of the Tugela. The actual posi- 
tion held was perfectly tenable, but did not lend itself 
to an advance, as the southern slopes were so steep that 
Warren could not get an effective artillery position, and 
water-supply was a difficulty. 

"On January 23d, I assented to his attacking Spion 
Kop, a large hill, — indeed, a mountain, — which was 
evidently the key of the position, but was far more acces- 
sible from the north than from the south. 

"On the night of January 23d attacked Spion Kop, 
but found it very difficult to hold, as its perimeter was 
too large, and water, which he had been led to believe 
existed even in this extraordinary dry season, was found 
very deficient. 



176 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

"The crests were held all that day against severe 
attacks and a heavy shell fire. Our men fought with 
great gallantry. Would especially mention the conduct 
of the 2d Cameronians and the 3d King's Rifles, who 
supported the attack on the mountain from the steepest 
side, and in each case fought their way to the top ; and 
the 2d Lancashire Fusiliers and 2d Middlesex, who 
magnificently maintained the best traditions of the 
British army throughout the trying day, on January 
24th, and Thorney croft's mounted infantry, who fought 
throughout the day equally well alongside of them. 

" General Woodgate, who was in command at the 
summit, having been wounded, the officer who succeeded 
him decided, on the night of January 24th, to abandon 
the position, and did so before dawn of January 25th. 

"I reached Warren's camp at 5 a. m., January 25th, 
and decided that a second attack upon Spion Kop was 
useless, and that the enemy's right was too strong to 
allow me to force it. 

" Accordingly, I decided to withdraw the force to the 
south of Tugela. At 6. a m. we commenced withdraw- 
ing the train, and by 8 a. m., January 27th (Saturday), 
Warren's force was concentrated south of the Tugela, 
without the loss of a man or a pound of stores. 

" The fact that the force could be brought in actual 
touch — in some cases the lines were less than one 
thousand yards apart — with the enemy, in the manner 
it was, is, I think, sufficient evidence of the morale of 
the troops, and that we were permitted to withdraw our 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 77 

cumbrous ox and mule transport across the river, eighty- 
five yards broad with twenty-foot banks and a very 
swift current, unmolested, is, I think, proof that the 
enemy has been taught to respect our soldiers' fighting 
powers." 

On the 13th of February Lord Roberts sent a des- 
patch to the War Office, submitting General Buller's 
despatches describing the Spion Kop and other opera- 
tions, from January 17th to January 24th. 

In his comments. Lord Roberts dealt severely with 
General Warren and others, not even sparing General 
Buller. He complained that the plan of operation was 
not clearly described in the despatches. After sketch- 
ing General Buller's intentions, as communicated to Sir 
Charles Warren, who commanded the whole force, 
Lord Roberts pointed out that General Warren seemed 
to have concluded, after consultation with his officers, 
that the flanking movement ordered by General Buller 
was impracticable, and therefore so changed the plan of 
advance as to necessitate the capture and retention 
of Spion Kop. Lord Roberts continued : 

" As Warren considered it impossible to make the 
wide flanking movement which was recommended, if not 
actually prescribed, in the secret instructions, he should 
forthwith have acquainted Buller with the course he 
proposed to adopt. There is nothing to show whether 
he did so or not. But it is only fair to Warren to point 
out that Buller appears throughout to have been aware 
of what was happening." 



178 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Regarding the withdrawal from Spion Kop, the reten- 
tion of which had become essential to the relief of 
Ladysmith, Lord Roberts said : 

" I regret to be unable to concur with Buller in think- 
ing Thorneycroft exercised wise discretion in ordering 
the troops to retire. 

" I am of the opinion that Thorneycroft's assumption 
of responsibility and authority was wholly inexcusable. 
During the night the enemy's fire could not have been 
formidable, and it would not have taken more than two 
or three hours for Thorneycroft to communicate by 
messenger with Major-General Coke or Warren. 

**Coke appears to have left Spion Kop at 9.30 p. m. 
for the purpose of consulting with Warren. Up to that 
hour the idea of withdrawal had not been entertained. 
Yet, almost immediately after Coke's departure, Thorn- 
eycroft issued the order, without reference to superior 
authority, which upset the whole plan of operations and 
rendered unavailable the sacrifices already made to 
carry it into effect. 

" However, it is only right to state that Thorney- 
croft appears to have behaved in a very gallant manner 
throughout the day. 

" It is to be regretted that Warren did not himself 
visit Spion Kop in the afternoon or evening, knowing, 
as he did, that the state of affairs was very critical, and 
that the loss of position would involve the failure of the 
operations. 

"He consequently was obliged to summon Coke to 



SPION KOP CAMPAIGN. 1 79 

his headquarters, and the command at Spion Kop thus 
devolved on Thorneycroft, unknown to Coke, who was 
under the impression that the command devolved upon 
Colonel Hill, as senior officer. 

" Omission or mistakes of this nature may be trivial 
in themselves, yet they may exercise an important 
influence on the course of events, and I believe Buller 
was justified in remarking 'there was a want of organ- 
isation and system, which acted most unfavourably on 
the defence.' 

" The attempt to relieve Ladysmith was well devised, 
and I agree with Buller in thinking it ought to have 
succeeded. That it failed may in some measure have 
been due to the difficulties of the ground and the com- 
manding positions held by the enemy, and probably also 
to errors of judgment and want of administrative capac- 
ity on the part of Warren. 

" But, whatever faults Warren may have committed, 
the failure must also be attributed to the disinclination 
of the officer in supreme command to assert his author- 
ity, and see that what he thought best was done, and 
also to the unwarrantable and needless assumption of 
responsibility by a subordinate officer." 

The despatch concluded : " The gratifying feature of 
these despatches is the admirable behaviour of the 
troops throughout the operation." 



J^ 



CHAPTER XVIL 

FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 

Cape Town. 
'BRUARY I. Evidence is accumulatins: that 



t> 



something beyond a tacit understanding existed 
between the Boer executives and the inner circle of 
the Afrikander Bund concerning what should follow 
the ripening rebellion at the outbreak of the war. Fully 
five hundred colonial Dutchmen have joined the enemy. 
The Boers, however, believed that this number would 
be multiplied tenfold. Consequently, the Afrikander 
Bund is now execrated at Pretoria and Bloemfontein. 

A curious incident is related of the fighting on Janu- 
ary 24th. One of the Lancasters, while firing from the 
prone position, had his head taken clean off by a shell. 
To the amazement of his comrades, the headless trunk 
quietly rose, stood upright a few seconds, and then 
fell. 

February 2. Colonel Plumer has been repulsed by 

the Boers, ninety miles beyond Mafeking. 

■ February j. South African "horse sickness" — 

called in the Dutch language parde siekte — is a 

scourge which is always prevalent in the region of the 

180 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. l8l 

war. Three years ago, when a small British force was 
garrisoning Natal, six hundred government horses were 
carried off. Dutchmen say the disease is caused by 
open feeding on the veldt at night, when the poisonous 
herb called "tulp" is in its worst state of virulence. 
No remedy is known. Perhaps twenty per cent, of the 
animals attacked pulled through, and they are termed 
" salted," for such seldom have a second attack. Already 
this year the English War Department has sent out 
thirty thousand horses and twenty thousand mules as 
remounts, in addition to those accompanying the troops 
to South Africa. 

February ^. Advices from Gaberones say : " The 
artillery duel between Colonel Plumer's force and five 
hundred Boers continued until to-day, when the British 
dropped two shells into the Boer force. The Boer guns 
have since been silent. Colonel Plumer's advance has 
been checked by floods." 

February j. General Buller has crossed the Tugela 
at Potgieter's drift, and taken Vaal Krantz. 

General MacDonald has captured Koodoesberg drift, 
on the Boers' right at Magersfontein. 

A despatch from Naauwpoort says : 

" There is great activity here, and on the Rensburg- 
Hanover road, due to the despatch of an overwhelming 
force of infantry to seize Norval's Pont. The British 
cavalry, having completed the reconnoissance, is being 
retired to recoup losses. The Boers at Colesberg are 
virtually surrounded." - 



152 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

February 6. Fighting continues all along the upper 
Tugela. General Buller reports two officers killed and 
fifteen wounded. Two hundred and sixteen men killed 
and wounded. 

Two thousand men, with an armoured train, made a 
sortie from Chieveley, and were driven back. 

February y. Fighting still continues all along the 
Tugela. General Buller still holds Vaal Krantz. 

Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener left Cape Town 
to-day, on their way to Modder River. 

February 8. General Buller's force has been driven 
from Vaal Krantz, and is retreating to the south bank 
of the Tugela. 

General MacDonald has retreated to the Modder. 

The British have been repulsed at Rensburg. 

February g. It is reported that General White is 
attempting to cut his way out of Ladysmith. 

General Buller is once more south of the Tugela 
River, General MacDonald is back at the Modder 
River, and, apparently, the Boers have lost none of 
the ascendency they have held so long. Yet to-day's 
news by no means causes the acute disappointment 
attendant on the other failures to relieve Ladysmith. 
This can be attributed to three causes : 

First, there is a strong belief that General Buller's 
last attempt was only a demonstration on a large scale ; 
second, the wiser critics had warned the public not to 
expect the immediate relief of General White ; third, 
the nation has settled down to the realisation that the 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 1 83 

war will last a long time, and they are not swayed as at 
first by minor reverses and victories. 

The second and third reasons are self -explaining. 
The first requires considerable elucidation. In favour 
of the opinion held by Mr. Spencer Wilkinson, the mili- 
tary critic of the Morning Post, that General Buller did 
not intend immediately pushing on to Ladysmith, there 
is overwhelming evidence to show that Field Marshal 
Lord Roberts ordered systematic activity upon the part 
of all the forces. On this basis. General Buller's move 
may only be a repetition of General MacDonald's and 
General French's reconnoissances. 

February 10. General Roberts has taken command 
at Modder River, and has been joined by General 
French, 

The War Office announces that the British killed, 
wounded, and captured, to date, amount to 10,244. 

February 11. Fighting is going on at Rensburg. 

The latest news from the Modder River shows that 
General MacDonald's retirement from Koodoesberg 
drift was effected in complete order. The most reason- 
able explanation of this movement is that it was under- 
taken more to restore the confidence of the Highland 
Brigade, still nervous from their terrible experience at 
Magersfontein, than to gain any important objective. 

With this important unit. General Methuen's force is 
rehabilitated for a vigorous attack on General Cronje, 
and an attempt to relieve Kimberley may be looked for, 
more than likely superintended by Lord Roberts, while 



184 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the Seventh Division and part of General French's 
cavalry are occupied in a turning movement east of 
Jacobsdal. 

February 12. The British outposts have been driven 
in at Rensburg, with a loss of twelve officers and twenty- 
nine men. General Clements, who is in command, re- 
ports that he is hard pressed. 

General Roberts has begun his advance into the 
Free State. General French has seized Dekils drift, 
Reit River, and the Sixth and Seventh Divisions are 
encamped on the east bank. 

A small force of col.onial cavalry, with a battery, 
assisted by the Welsh Fusiliers, made a reconnoissance 
east of Chieveley. Upon the force retiring, Boer snipers 
from Hlangwana and Monte Christo attacked the colo- 
nial troopers who used machine guns and rifles. 

A squadron of the ist Dragoons had a skirmish with 
the Boers near Fustenberg this morning. The enemy 
was defeated. The British loss was reported as two 
officers and ten men wounded ; one officer and six men 
captured. 

The British have seized Zoutpan's drift on the Orange 
River. 

February ij. The Eighth Division has been ordered 
to get ready to embark. The British forces in South 
Africa now number 190,000. 

General Clements has been driven out of Rensburg. 

A despatch from Frere contains the following : 

"The bombardment of Ladysmith is proceeding 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 1 85 

sharply. Reuter's correspondent has escaped from 
Ladysmith and arrived here. He reports the garrison 
hopeful. The Boers are evidently anxious about their 
position. They have thrown up defensive works from 
Trichard's drift and the Spion Kop ranges, eastward to 
Hlangwana and Monte Christo, on this side of the 
Tugela. The enemy also has two, if not three, wooden 
bridges spanning the river in the bend, and also a wire 
rope apparatus for the conveyance of food and ammuni- 
tion across. 

February i^. The Boers are reported as moving to 
cut off Lord Roberts's line of communications. 

General Clements has fallen back on Arundel, closely 
pursued by the enemy. 

The Boers have advanced to Naaupoort, and are 
occupying the hills commanding the town. 

General Buller has begun his fourth advance toward 
Ladysmith, by seizing two hills north of Chieveley. 

The leading Boer commanders are : 

Gen. Piet Joubert, commander-in-chief, now opposing 
Buller in Natal. 

General Schalk-Burger, besieging Ladysmith. 

General Botha, operating with Joubert. 

General Delaney, in command in Cape Colony, with 
headquarters at Colesberg. 

General Cronje, at Magersfontein, near the Modder 
River. 

Colonel Villebris-Mareuil, a French officer, chief of 
staff to General Joubert. 



1 86 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The escape of the Associated Press correspondent 
was most adventurous and arduous. Leaving Lady- 
smith the evening of February loth, guided by a native, 
he soon encountered a Boer patrol, who fired upon him. 
Escaping the patrol, he crawled twenty-two miles over 
the roughest and stoniest of paths, hiding in native huts 
and kraals during the day, and proceeding at night. 
Once a Boer patrol came to the door of the hut where 
he was hiding under blankets. He swam the Tugela 
River, and reached Chieveley the morning of February 
13th, where he took train for Durban. 

February 75. Kimberley relieved. General French 
has entered the city with about five thousand men. 

Lord Roberts's strategy has been a brilliant success. He has 
accomplished one of the military wonders of history. With 
Kitchener as organiser, and French to make the rapid marches 
and unexpected and bold dashes, he only started on the road to 
Kimberley on Saturday last. 

His first real movement was the sudden taking of Dekils drift 
on Monday. On Tuesday General French left Dekils drift, and 
in six and one-half hours forced the march to Klip drift, twenty- 
five miles away, where he captured three Boer laagers. The 
cavalry leader, however, must have kept right on, for the distance 
from Klip drift to Kimberley is at least sixty miles, and he made 
it between Tuesday and Thursday night, — forty-eight hours. 

This means forced marching and an almost unobstructed route. 

The siege of Kimberley has lasted since October 15th, and the 
Boers made the most desperate efforts to take the city, in the 
hope of obtaining possession of the diamond mines, which they 
declared they would destroy. 

Another object of their attack on the city was Cecil Rhodes, 
with whom they have many scores to settle, the latest of which is 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 187 

for the famous Jameson Raid. They declared that when they cap- 
tured him tliey would place him in an iron cage and exhibit him 
in the streets of Pretoria. 

Rhodes was not frightened by their threats, however, but took 
an active part in the defence of the city. He even had his minia- 
ture painted during the bombardment by Miss Amalie Kuessner, 
the American portrait painter. 

Colonel Kekevvich was in command of the British forces at 
Kimberley during the siege, and made a remarkable defence. He 
had about six thousand men, including artillery, cavalry, and in- 
fantry. The De Beers Company, owners of the diamond mines, 
in anticipation of trouble, had laid in an enormous stock of pro- 
visions and ammunition, and even fortified their mines, and no 
doubt materially aided the regulars in saving the city from the 
Boers. 

Shells were continuously dropping into the city, and attempts 
were made by spies, mostly Kaffirs, to dynamite the mines, but 
they were caught. Several sorties were made by Kekewich's 
forces and a series of defences built about the city, which made 
it practically impregnable to an attacking force. 

Starvation and disease were the only enemies feared, and these 
could have been staved off only a short while longer. 

General Roberts has seized Jacobsdal and seventy- 
eight wagon-loads of supplies. 

The Boers are retreating from Modder River, one 
column going to the west of Kimberley, and another, 
under General Cronje, to the east, in the direction of 
Bloemfontein. 

The Boers have captured at Reit River a large 
British convoy of nearly two hundred wagons of sup- 
plies. 

The correspondent of the Associated Press at Lady- 
smith, from which place he escaped February loth, and 



1 88 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

arrived at Durban February 14th, sends the following, 
written before he left Ladysmith : 

" Since the furious cannonade in the early part of 
the week, quietness has reigned. The hills on which 
the relief column's lyddite shells were bursting by the 
hundreds, a few days previously, are now occupied only 
by grazing cattle. Farther away, on the north side of 
Spion Kop, the Boer laagers can be seen, evidently 
bigger than before, showing they have no idea at 
present of retiring from their position. 

" Much disappointment is felt at the non-appearance 
of General Buller, as from the severity of the fire every 
heart was glowing with hope and excitement at the 
prospect of immediate relief ; not that we are at all 
in the blues, for every one capable of shouldering a 
rifle is confident in our ability to hold the town against 
any force the Boers are capable of putting in the field. 
Still, the continued diet of horse and mule flesh is 
getting somewhat monotonous, although the health of 
the camp, taking everything into consideration, is better 
than could be expected. 

" Enteric fever and dysentery have abated. The camp 
fever is not virulent, but is slightly increasing. The 
scarcity of vegetables is very trying to the troops." 

February 16. The following despatch from General 
Roberts, near Jacobsdal, fills the gaps in the earlier 
despatches : 

" The Sixth Division left Waterfall drift early yester- 
day morning, and marched here, going on the same 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 1 89 

evening to Rondaval drift, to hold the crossing of the 
Modder River and leave General French free to act. 

" Shortly after arriving here, mounted infantry visited 
Jacobsdal and found it full of women and children, with 
four of our wounded men doing well. 

" On the way back the mounted infantry were at- 
tacked and nine men wounded. Colonel Henry and 
Major Hatchell and ten men were missing. Both offi- 
cers were subsequently found at Jacobsdal, slightly 
wounded. 

" The cavalry division is moving in a northerly direc- 
tion, and has apparently already reduced the pressure 
on Kimberley, as Kekewich signals the enemy has 
abandoned Alexandersfontein and that he has occu- 
pied it. 

" French has advanced as far as Abonsdam with 
slight loss, and is pushing on the post, his rear being 
held by mounted infantry. 

" Clements, having been pressed by the Boers, has 
retired to Arundel, to cover Naauwpoort." 

General Cronje is in full retreat, closely pursued by 
General Kelly-Kenny's Sixth Division, and General 
Tucker's Seventh Division. General Kitchener is in 
command. 

General French's march was so rapid, and the heat 
so intense, that many of his horses died of exhaustion. 
At the crossing of the Modder River the Boers bolted, 
leaving their tents, guns, oxen, wagons, and large quan- 
tities of ammunition in the hands of the British. Mov- 



IQO FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

ing northward, the Boers again attempted to stem the 
advance, but General French turned their flank, and 
reached his goal with insignificant losses, — seven men 
killed and thirty-five wounded, during three days, from 
Wednesday, February 14th, to Friday, February i6th. 

After a night's rest at Kimberley, General French's 
column pursued the Boers to Drontveld, surrounded 
the kopjes on which they were posted, and shelled 
them till nightfall, when the Boers fled, leaving many 
dead. 

General Cronje left the gun, his tents, food, and 
clothes at Magersfontein. 

The scene in this city, when the special editions of 
the papers announced the relief of Kimberley, was ex- 
citing in the extreme. 

Cheers burst forth, and from all parts of the city the 
inhabitants came rushing up in frantic haste to swell 
the throng. Cheers were called for her Majesty, for 
Lord Roberts, for General French, and for the gov- 
ernor; and St. George's Street — the Fleet Street of 
Cape Town — was soon choked with citizens hurrying 
from all parts of the city to share in the extraordinary 
outburst of enthusiasm. The doors of the cathedral 
were sprung open, and the crowd surged in to sing the 
national anthem to organ accompaniment. 

A flag — the red ensign — was then produced, and 
suddenly the vast crowd was in motion, bound for the 
offices of Ons Land, where what promised to develop 
into something more than a hostile dem.onstration was 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. I9I 

happily checked by the presence of a strong force of 
mounted poHce. Then a move was made to Govern- 
ment House, where the crowd remained for a quarter 
of an hour, singing the national anthem and cheering, 
until Sir Alfred Milner, amid a scene of extraordinary 
enthusiasm, showed himself for a second or two at the 
gates. 

Still following the flag, the crowd surged through 
the town, vigorously hooting outside the government 
offices, making a patriotic demonstration opposite the 
statue of her Majesty, and finally coming to a standstill 
outside the town house, from the steps of which the 
mayor delivered a thankful little speech, which had the 
effect of sending everybody away in a contented frame 
of mind. The outburst of patriotic enthusiasm lasted 
for about an hour, and formed one of the most remark- 
able demonstrations of loyalty which has ever been 
witnessed in the metropolis of the colony. 

The following comes from Ladysmith to-day by a 
private messenger : " Luxuries are beyond the means 
of the majority. Eggs are thirty-six shillings a dozen; 
a small fowl is eighteen shillings sixpence ; pumpkins, 
twelve shillings each ; tin of jam, twelve shillings six- 
pence ; a tin of milk, seven shillings sixpence ; box of 
sardines, three shillings ; tobacco, ninety shillings a 
pound. A case of whiskey was raffled for ^i4S- 

" The Boers are smuggling tobacco into camp by the 
aid of natives. A local factory is turning out excellent 
horse sausages, and another is making nourishing soup 



192 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

from the same kind of meat, which is much appreciated 
by the troops, who certainly have increased in strength 
since these were served out." 

February ly. The enemy are shelHng General Gat- 
acre's position at Molteno. 

The Boers have been driven from the hills surround- 
ing Dordrecht. 

From Ladysmith we have received this despatch : 

" All day men gather on the convent hill and try to 
see General Buller's shells bursting in the distance. 
The siege has been inexpressibly tedious for the last 
fortnight. Boer camps have entirely disappeared from 
the old positions in the last few days, and large parties 
with wagons are trekking westward. It is assumed that 
the Free Staters are going to resist the advance of Lord 
Roberts. 

"We estimate that about six thousand have gone. 
Near the foot of Bulwana the Boers have been con- 
structing a work near the river, possibly a dam. We 
can see a figure like an old lady in a red petticoat 
directing operations." 

February 18. General Brabant has entered Dor- 
drecht. 

The Boers are trying to cut Lord Roberts's lines at 
Graspan and near De Aar. 

General Buller has moved around the enemy's left 
flank and captured Monte Christo Hill, driving the 
Boers back across the Tugela. He has taken several 
camps, and captured many prisoners. A bombard- 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 1 93 

ment of the enemy's position on Hlangwana Hill has 
begun. 

Desperate fighting has been going on all day between 
Cronje's army and General Kitchener's force. One 
hundred and forty-six British have been killed; Generals 
Knox and MacDonald are wounded. 

The casualties among General Buller's force in the 
fighting at Hussar Hill, Monte Christo Hill, and other 
places, from February 15th to February i8th, were: 
killed, Capt. T. H. Burney and thirteen men ; 
wounded, six officers and 154 men. 

Lord Methuen has issued the following notification 
at Kimberley : " I have received instructions that if any 
disturbance occurs west of the Vaal River my force is 
to return and punish the rebels immediately." 

February ig. General Buller has taken Hlangwana 
Hill. 

Lord Roberts has advanced into the Free State to 
Paardeberg, thirty miles east of Jacobsdal. 

The battle between Cronje and General Kitchener 
has been renewed to-day. 

February 20. The Boers evacuated Colenso, and 
General Buller occupied the town. Hart's brigade 
crossed to the north side of the Tugela, and the Boers 
are reported as being in full retreat. 

Lord Roberts has beaten off the Boers under 
Commandant Botha, who were trying to reinforce 
Cronje. 

The railroad to Kimberley is open, and a coal train 



194 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

starts for there from this city to-day. General Methuen 
is sending forward reinforcements. 

General Buller has just taken Fort Wylie, north of 
the Tugela, losing three officers and nine men killed, 
and six officers and ninety-seven men wounded, among 
whom is Major-General Wynne. 

February 21. The following Boer despatches have 
been intercepted : 

" HooFD Laager, Ladysmith, Feb. 21, 1900. — 
There was heavy fighting all Monday and Tuesday, 
and it still continues since early this morning. Our 
officers hope to dislodge the British from their position. 

" Last night a body of British troops tried to cross 
the river, but were beaten back with heavy loss. Our 
loss was slight. 

" Our positions are being bombarded from Ladysmith, 
at a point where the Klip River passes through the 
hills. Our long-tom is replying with good effect. 

" A report was received this morning of cannon firing 
west of Colesberg. At Petrusberg, cannon firing com- 
menced at six in the morning. A big fight was expected 
to-day. 

" De Wet telegraphed yesterday from Petrusberg 
that all was quiet, except several cannon-shots and 
small skirmishes. Yesterday evening the British 
stormed the Federal position as far as Schauzer, but 
were driven back. 

" Commandant Fronoman reports that from February 
1 5th to February 20th he was surrounded by the British 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 1 95 

at the Modder River, when, with a small number of 
men, he broke through the river. 

" On Sunday there was a heavy fight. The British 
prepared to lay siege to the Boer laager, with fighting 
general. We were surrounded by twenty-five hundred 
British, five miles from the chief laager. At night we 
cut our way through, with the loss of seven dead and 
sixteen wounded. The loss to the British was heavy. 
Yesterday we cut our way through to reach De Wet, 
who was in the neighbourhood. Fifty-three prisoners 
were taken, and fifty-three prisoners formerly taken 
have been forwarded. It is reported that the British 
were continually attacking Koodoosrand yesterday, with 
infantry and Lancers, but that they were driven back." 

The following despatch has just been received from 
Kimberley : " Cavalry patrols, that went north to cap- 
ture the lOO-pounder, report that the weapon has been 
taken beyond Riverton station, drawn by thirty-three 
oxen. The British cavalry say that they saw Boer 
parties, but they did not go beyond Riverton, for fear 
of being cut off. They learned, however, that the 
Transvaalers were being concentrated on the border to 
the north. 

"A party of Boers fired at the British camp. Fifty 
thousand rounds of ammunition were captured at 
Magersfontein. Cecil Rhodes will leave for England 
shortly. W. E. Chapman, with thirty men, held out 
for weeks against the Boers, at Otto Kopje mine, until 
relieved from Kimberley." 



196 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The Boers are reported in strength at Fourteen 
Streams, thirty-five miles north from Kimberley, with 
two guns and many wagons. They have destroyed 
the bridge over the Vaal River. 

A Boer kopje has been captured near Paardeberg 
with fifty prisoners. General Cronje's position is un- 
changed. 

February 22. Last Monday General Cronje asked 
for an armistice of twenty-four hours, to allow him to 
bury his dead. Lord Kitchener, in reply, told the 
Boer commander that he must fight to a finish or sur- 
render unconditionally. General Cronje's position is 
reported hopeless. 

The British have crossed the Tugela over a pontoon 
northward of Hlangwana, and now occupy Fort Wylie. 
While the naval brigade was bombarding Grobler's 
kloof, the Boers' big Creusot replied. Yesterday even- 
ing, after the occupation of Colenso, a small party of 
Thorney croft's Horse crossed the river, but were driven 
back by fire from the trenches. 

The Boer guns are still shelling the relieving force 
from the hills south of Ladysmith, but the impression 
is spreading that they are merely covering the retreat 
of the entire Boer force. General Buller's casualties, 
Tuesday, February 20th, and Wednesday, February 
2 1st, were: killed, Captain Crealock and Lieutenants 
Keith-Falconer and Parry of the Somersetshire Light 
Infantry, and nine men ; wounded, six officers and 
ninety-seven men ; missing, five men. 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 1 97 

A special despatch from Paardeberg says : 

" Commandant Botha has been attempting to reHeve 
General Cronje. There has been severe fighting. 
General Botha's force is scattered, with heavy losses." 

Lord Methuen reports that Barkly West was occupied 
by our troops to-day. The loyal inhabitants displayed 
great enthusiasm. The country west of the railway 
from Cape Town to Kimberley is gradually settling 
down. A detachment has started from De Aar for 
Britstown, and Douglas and Prieska will shortly be 
visited by British troops. 

February 2^. Commandant De Wet, who was ad- 
vancing to the aid of General Cronje, has just been 
checked by Lord Roberts at Petrusberg. 

General Buller reports that twelve officers of his 
command have been wounded since last night. 

The first passenger train from the south, containing 
the October mail, arrived at Kimberley to-day. 

General Cronje is reported to have plenty of provi- 
sions, but to be running short of ammunition. Mr. 
Rhodes is extremely hopeful that the war has reached 
its concluding stage. 

Febritary 2^. Within the last few days two hundred 
prisoners have arrived here, and preparations are being 
made to receive large numbers. 

Fifty officers and men have been despatched to Wal- 
fisch Bay, where it is reported that Boer munitions are 
being landed. 

It is said that about fifty per cent, of the first five 



T98 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

squadrons of Brabant's Horse have taken their dis- 
charges, having completed their engagement for three 
months. Various reasons are given. 

Febntary 26. The campaign is now approaching a 
most interesting phase. In about a fortnight the 
Congress of the Afrikander Bund will meet, and it is 
rumoured that Mr. Hofmeyer will then propose peace 
terms on the basis of the Republics retaining absolute 
independence, but offering to disarm. If these terms 
are rejected, it is understood that a manifesto will be 
boldly issued to the Dutch throughout South Africa, 
calling upon them to throw off their allegiance to Great 
Britain. 

The Boer force occupying Prieska consists of 120 
rebels, led by Free Staters. A proclamation has been 
read annexing the Prieska district to the Free State, 
and all loyal British have been given eight days to quit 
the place. 

It is said by refugees from Prieska that, unless troops 
are speedily sent there, the whole northwestern district 
will rise. 

The feeling in official circles at Pretoria borders on 
consternation. Gen. Louis Botha and President 
Steyn are both urging President Kruger to sue for 
peace. At Bloemfontein General Cronje's position is 
regarded as hopeless. 

General Puller's march on Ladysmith is being marked 
by sharp fighting. A Pietermaritzburg despatch of 
to-day's date says he is still heavily engaged. 



FEBRUARY BULLETINS. 1 99 

General Buller, in a despatch from Colenso, dated 
Sunday, February 25th, reports that the British casual- 
ties February 20th were twelve killed and ninety-nine 
wounded, among the Somersets and Dorsets, and that, 
February 2 2d and 23d, twelve officers were wounded. 

There are now six hundred Boer prisoners at Modder 
River, most of whom surrendered Friday and Saturday. 
They are kept under guard between wire fences. 

In northern Cape Colony an important move has 
been made in the occupation by General Brabant of 
Jamestown, northeast of the Boer position in the Storm- 
berg hills. 

February 2'/. General Cronje has surrendered his 
force of three thousand men and fifteen guns to Lord 
Roberts. 

General Buller has taken Pieter's Hill by assault, 
putting the enemy to rout. 

Boer commandoes are reported " hastening from all 
quarters of the two Republics," to the defence of Bloem- 
fontein. No estimate is made of their numbers, but 
the withdrawal of the Boers from most of the places 
where they have been in contact with the British, except 
the district near Ladysmith, may raise the resisting 
force to thirty thousand men. This figure assumes 
that the Boers have between sixty thousand and 
seventy thousand men in the field. 

A despatch from Paardeberg says General Cronje's 
surrender was chiefly due to the gallant night attack 
upon his trenches by the Canadians and Gordons. 



200 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The War Office has issued a Hst of 721 non-com- 
missioned officers and men wounded in the fighting at 
Paardeberg, Sunday, February i8th, including sixty- 
three Canadians and 273 Highlanders. 

February 28. Ladysmith has at last been relieved. 
General Dundonald, with a force of cavalry and infantry, 
entered the town to-day. 

General Clements has occupied Colesberg, the Boers 
having retired to the north of Cape Colony. 

A despatch from Arundel says that the British troops 
have again occupied Rensburg. 

General Cronje's aide-de-camp stated that he believed 
the Free State would continue to fight as long as the 
Transvaal wished. On the other hand, many Free 
Staters are anxiously asking for copies of Lord Rob- 
erts's proclamation. 

There is talk of peace in the air. The English organ 
of the Afrikander Bund proposes the formation of a 
conciliation committee, the object being, of course, to 
save Boer independence. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 



ON the 1 0th of January, Lords Roberts and Kitch- 
ener arrived in Cape Town, the former to take 
command of the British army in Africa, and the latter 
as his cliief of staff. It was not, however, until Feb- 
ruary loth that Roberts took personal command at 
Modder River. 

At that time careful estimates placed the strength 
of the Boers, in men which were or could be put into 
the field, at 60,000, and no guns. The total British 
force amounted to 180,000 men and 410 guns. 

With the beginning of February General BuUer was 
south of the Tugela, awaiting an opportunity to enter 
Ladysmith. Colonel Plumer, with a small force, re- 
mained north of Mafeking, vainly trying to succour that 
town, and the bulk of the British army was in the 
vicinity of Modder River, from which direction fruitless 
efforts had been made to relieve Kimberley. 

On the 2d of February, Colonel Plumer was repulsed 
by the Boers at a point ninety miles north of Mafeking, 
and on the 4th, after an artillery duel with the enemy, 
his further advance was checked by the floods. 



202 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

February 5th, General Buller crossed the Tugela at 
Potgieter's drift, and, advancing, took possession of 
Vaal Krantz. 

On the same day, General MacDonald made what 
was afterward found to be a feint, by advancing into 
the Orange Free State to Koppies Dam or Koodoes- 
berg, as may be seen by the following despatch from 
Koppies Dam, under this date : 

" General MacDonald, with a brigade of infantr)"-, a 
regiment of Lancers, and one battery, has reached here 
from Modder River camp, in what is regarded as an 
important movement to the right of the Boer position 
at Magersfontein. Koppies Dam commands the roads 
from Kimberley to Hope Town and Douglas. The 
Boer laagers at Kamul Hock and Griquatown are within 
strong distance. The arrival of General MacDonald's 
column was opportune, as it just prevented two large 
commandoes effecting a junction. He now holds both 
banks of the river. Our Lancers had two brushes with 
the Boer patrols. There is great activity among the 
enemy, and strong forces are concentrating to oppose 
further advance. The troops suffered from heat and 
scarcity of water during the march." 

General Buller's advance had brought him into direct 
contact with the enemy, as may be seen by the accom- 
panying despatch from the Boers, dated at Boer Head 
Laager, near Ladysmith, February 6th : 

" Since yesterday the British, with naval and other 
guns, have bombarded our positions on the upper 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 203 

Tugela. The troops crossed the river at the Pont and 
Molen drift, with the object of storming our positions. 
At the former, General Burger beat them back, and 
they recrossed in great confusion. The fighting con- 
tinues at Molen drift with the Standerton and Johan- 
nesburg commandoes. There were no casualties on 
our side. The cannonade was the fiercest yet expe- 
rienced. There was a continuous roaring all day long. 
This morning it recommenced with an increased num- 
ber of guns." 

Late on the afternoon of the 6th day of February 
General Buller sent an armoured train with two thou- 
sand men on a sortie from Chieveley ; but the enemy 
drove them back with considerable loss. In fact, Gen- 
eral Buller reports his entire loss during the day to be, 
two officers killed and fifteen wounded ; 216 non-com- 
missioned officers and men killed and wounded. 

On February 7th, General Buller held Vaal Krantz, 
but at the expense of fighting all along the Tugela, the 
Boers knowing full well that their hopes of capturing 
Ladysmith depended upon their holding the commander 
of the Natal forces in check. 

In the southwestern portion of the Orange Free 
State, General MacDonald scored a distinct success at 
Koodoesberg. His original orders were to hold the 
drift and construct a fort. The position, however, was 
extremely difficult, a long range of high hills running 
northwest, and terminating close to the drift on the 
north bank of the river. As it was impossible to hold 



204 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the whole summit, General MacDonald constructed 
strong works across the centre, which were held by 
the Seaforth Highlanders and three companies of the 
Black Watch. While the Highland Light Infantry 
held a small kopje on the right, the 9th Lancers 
patrolled the left toward the river, General MacDon- 
ald's plan being to repel attacks. 

Things went on quietly until February 7th, when the 
Boers advanced along the ridge within nine hundred 
yards, mounting two mountain 7-pounders, which were 
invisible from the plain. They also held a smaller 
drift three miles to the west. 

On receipt of this news, General Methuen despatched 
a large force of cavalry and two horse-batteries, under 
General Babington, with the purpose of surrounding 
the Boers. In order to further this plan General Mac- 
Donald adopted merely defensive tactics. It was not 
attempted to force back the Boers' right, which move 
might have resulted in their general retirement too 
soon. 

General Babington left Modder River at 11.30 in 
the morning, and arrived within two miles of Koodoes- 
berg at 4.30 p. m., too late to attempt the turning 
movement. 

The next morning it was found that the Boers had 
fled from the lower drift, but still remained on the hill, 
which they also left when they perceived Babington's 
movements. Early in the morning Babington vigor- 
ously shelled the retiring Boers. 




GENERAL JOUBERT. 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 2O5 

The entire British force then returned to camp. 

The 8th of February was a day for retreating, appar- 
ently. General MacDonald fell back to Modder River, 
thus giving military critics a very decided impression 
that his orders had been simply to show activity. 

This last reason may apply equally well to General 
Buller's movements. Without apparently sufficient 
cause, he retired from Vaal Krantz to south of the 
Tugela, much as though he had no idea of making any 
effort to relieve Ladysmith. 

On February loth, Lord Roberts took command at 
Modder River, and was at once joined by General 
French. 

As if making preparations to "turn over a new leaf" 
in the conduct of the war, official announcement was 
made that up to this date the British losses, in killed, 
wounded, missing, and captured, amounted to 10,214. 

On the Modder River, Lord Roberts perfected the 
plans of his campaign, mapping out work for all the 
forces in South Africa, The Natal army knocking 
away at the gates in the mountains, Methuen's men 
plodding along up the Vaal River, Hunter striking out 
from the west directly for Johannesburg, and Carring- 
ton swooping down from distant Rhodesia, were all 
threads in one great general scheme for the undoing 
of the Boers. 

The Boers made a slight advance down the Lady- 
smith road toward Potgieter's drift on February i ith. 
Three hundred of them proceeded to construct new 



206 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

rows of trenches at right angles to the road and about 
two miles north of the drift. A party of the enemy 
also crossed the Tugela, which was very low, six miles 
below Potgieter's, and sniped at a squadron of the South 
African Light Horse. The enemy were driven back. 

At Rensburg, Major-General Clements found ample 
employment in keeping the Boers at a distance, and it 
appeared to be no portion of Lord Roberts's plan to aid 
him in holding his position. 

The work in Natal, on February 12th, consisted in 
a reconnoissance by Dundonald with seven hundred 
mounted men, a field-battery, and the First Royal 
Welsh Fusiliers, who reconnoitred the high ground 
near Chieveley which the enemy had been in the habit 
of visiting. The Boers evacuated it with the loss of two 
men, after slight resistance. When the force retired, 
on the completion of the reconnoissance, the enemy 
returned in considerable number and kept up a heavy 
rifle fire. Five men of the British force were missing. 

Major-General Clements's outposts were driven back 
at Rensburg with a loss of twelve officers and twenty- 
nine men. General Clements admitted that he was 
being hard pressed. 

North of Maf eking, Colonel Plumer sent Major Bird 
with two hundred colonials to attempt the capture of the 
Boer i2-pounder on a kopje near Crocodile Pool. Major 
Bird met with such a terrific rifle and shell fire that he 
considered the position too strong, and ordered a retire- 
ment. 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 20/ 

Colonel the Hon. H, F, White was slightly wounded, 
Major Straker was severely wounded, nineteen privates 
were wounded, and Capt. Samson French and nine 
men were missing. 

On this date, also (February 12th), General Roberts's 
real advance began. General French, with the Seventh 
Division (cavalry), seized Dekils drift. By another route 
the Sixth Division set off, halting for the night at 
Ramdam. 

The campaign was now opened. 

February 13th, Major-General Clements was driven 
out of Rensburg, and by this time it could be seen that 
Lord Roberts had counted on keeping the Boers occu- 
pied farther to the southward while the main portion of 
his force was well under way for the besieged towns and 
the chief Boer cities. 

General French left Dekils drift on the afternoon of 
the 13th, pushing on to a point lower down the Reit 
River, known as Wegdraal, where he arrived at one 
o'clock next morning. The Sixth Division passed the 
Seventh at Wegdraal, advancing toward Drieput on 
the Modder. General French had been forced to halt 
at Rondaval drift to engage the enemy in order to force 
a passage, but the Boers were not in strong force, and 
soon retired. 

Colonel Hannay, while on his way to Ramah, en- 
countered five hundred Boers, with two guns, holding 
a kopje commanding the valley leading to the drift. 
The fighting lasted all day long, and the Boers disap- 



208 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

peared during the night. Thirteen of the British were 
captured. 

The force commanded by General Wood moved up 
from the southward and seized Zoutpan's drift. 

On the same day the Boers in Natal began throwing 
up defensive works from Trichard's drift and the Spion 
Kop range, eastward to Hlangwana and Monte Christo. 

February 14th, General Buller began his fourth ad- 
vance on Ladysmith by seizing two hills north of 
Chieveley. 

General Clements, being hard pressed by the Boers, 
fell back to Arundel in order to cover Naauwpoort, 
toward which the Boers were advancing by occupying 
hills commanding the town, 

French was pushing on, somewhere between Drieput 
and Kimberley. 

At Reit River drift, on this morning of the 14th, was 
a large convoy, consisting of two hundred ox-wagons, 
each drawn by sixteen oxen, and each loaded with six 
thousand pounds of rations and forage. The teams 
were laagered near the drift awaiting orders, when 
from a kopje fifteen hundred yards on the right flank, 
a rain of shot and shell was poured in upon them. 

The little escort — eighty Gordons, forty of the army 
service corps, and a score of Lord Kitchener's Horse — 
held a force of fifteen hundred Boers with four guns, in 
check nearly all day. One hundred and eighty wagons 
were captured by the enemy before the relieving party 
arrived. 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 2O9 

On the 15th of February, Kimberley was relieved, 
Jacobsdal was seized, Magersfontein and Spyfontein 
were evacuated, and the Boers began a retreat from 
Modder River. It was the first of Lord Roberts's har- 
vest, and a most promising beginning. 

During the forenoon of the 15 th, a cavalry patrol 
entered Jacobsdal and found it full of wounded, includ- 
ing several British from Rensburg. But few Boers 
had been left to hold the place, and these were soon 
driven out after a battery of artillery had been called 
into service. 

On the way back to report, a party of mounted in- 
fantry was attacked by the Boers. Two officers were 
wounded and ten men captured. 

General French's arrival at Kimberley is described 
elsewhere. The retreat of the Boers was made in two 
columns, one going west of Kimberley, and the other, 
under General Cronje, moving east, toward Bloemfon- 
tein. 

Pursuit of the enemy was begun at once by the Sixth 
and Seventh Divisions, and on the morning of the i6th 
General French sent the following report to his com- 
mander-in-chief : 

" I have completely dispersed the enemy from the 
southern side of Kimberley, from Alexandersfontein to 
Oliphantsfontein, and am now going to occupy their 
ground. Have captured the enemy's laager, and store 
depot supplies, and supplies of ammunition. Casualties, 
about twenty of all ranks wounded." 



2IO FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Lord Roberts reported to the War Office : 

" I have good reason to believe the Magersfontein 
trenches have been abandoned, and that the Boers are 
endeavouring to escape. General French is scouring 
the country north of Kimberley. One of General 
Kelly-Kenny's brigades of infantry is in pursuit of a 
large Boer convoy moving toward Bloemfontein." 

February 15th, the Boers occupied a strong hill north 
of Dordrecht, and the British held a commanding post 
to the south, both maintaining a brisk exchange of 
shells over Dordrecht. 

General Brabant's Horse, two thousand strong, com- 
menced the march from Pen Hook on the morning of 
the 15th, over a trackless veldt, and through a moun- 
tainous and difficult country. Early next day they 
were fired upon, and the firing continued all day and 
well into the night, the British clearing the Boers out 
of successive positions, under a terrific rifle fire lasting- 
eight hours. 

Toward midnight, on the i6th the British forced 
the Boers, at the point of the bayonet, out of their 
last position, an important one, overlooking Dor- 
drecht. The artillery duel was continued throughout 
the day. 

The British casualties were, eight killed, including 
Captain Crallan and Lieutenant Chandler, and eight 
wounded. The British captured some prisoners and a 
quantity of forage and provisions. The Boers had been 
fighting a good rear-guard action, occupying successive 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 2 I I 

kopjes in order to allow the moving of the convoy, 
which, however, had been going at a very slow pace, 
the animals being worn out. 

During this day the Boers vigorously shelled General 
Gatacre's position at Molteno, but without any decided 
effect. 

On the 1 8th of February, General Buller, in Natal, 
succeeded in moving around the Boers' left flank, and 
captured Monte Christo Hill, driving the enemy back 
across the Tugela River. Several Boer camps, consid- 
erable store of supplies and ammunition, and many 
wagons were taken. Once Monte Christo Hill was 
occupied by him. General Buller began a bombard- 
ment of the strong Boer position on HIangwana Hill. 
His losses, from the 15th to the i8th of February, were 
one officer and thirteen men killed, and six officers and 
men wounded. 

The running battle between Kitchener and Cronje 
is given in detail elsewhere. On this day the British 
lost in killed 146 men, and General MacDonald was 
seriously wounded. 

The British forces under General Brabant entered 
Dordrecht on this day, and the Boers made vain at- 
tejnpts to cut Lord Roberts's lines at Graspan and 
near De Aar. 

Commandant Pretorious, who was captured by the 
British at Elandslaagte, and three other Boer prisoners, 
were handed over to the Boers at Arundel. A messen- 
ger under a flag of truce had previously arranged an 



212 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

interview with General Clements, and they were then 
taken in an ambulance half-way to the Boer camp. 

There was continuous fighting, February 19th, from 
the British positions on Gun Hill and Hussar Hill. The 
troops advanced from the former toward Monte Christo. 
There was a heavy bombardment with three 4.7-inch 
guns and the loo-pounder siege gun, supported by 
infantry, against the Boer position on Hlangwana Hill, 
which adjoins Monte Christo, and was regarded as the 
key to Grobler's kloof. 

The firing was particularly active from Hussar Hill 
on the strong Boer entrenchments at the extreme end of 
Hlangwana Hill. These entrenchments were strength- 
ened with sand-bags. 

Hlangwana Hill lies between two bends of the Tu- 
gela River. The Boers had erected a bridge between 
Hlangwana and the northern portion of the river. 

General Roberts advanced on this day (19th) into the 
Orange Free State, to Paardeberg, twenty miles east 
of Jacobsdal. 

Kitchener and Cronje continued their battle, while 
Lord Roberts watched jealously lest the Boers receive 
reinforcements, beating off the force under Comman- 
dant Botha. 

February 20th, the Boers evacuated Colenso, and 
General Buller at once moved up and occupied the 
town. Hart's brigade crossed to the north side of the 
Tugela, in pursuit of the retreating enemy. Later in 
the day General Buller took Fort Wylie, but a portion 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 2 I 3 

of his force (Thorneycroft's Horse) was driven back 
across the river. His loss in this last action was re- 
ported as three officers and nine men killed, and six 
officers and ninety-seven men wounded ; among the 
last was Major-General Wynne. 

Kitchener shelled Cronje's position with seventy guns. 
Gen. Hector MacDonald of the Highland Brigade was 
severely wounded. 

Again, on February 21st, did Commandant Botha 
attempt to relieve General Cronje ; but Lord Roberts 
scattered the Boer forces, and with heavy loss, after 
several hours of severe fighting. 

A Boer kopje near Paardeberg was captured, and fifty 
prisoners taken, among whom was one with despatches 
from General Cronje declaring that his position remained 
unchanged. 

In Natal, affairs were not progressing as well for the 
British. On February 20th the Boers, who had been 
reinforced, made a stand at Grobler's kloof and on a 
range of hills running east, having previously been 
forced from all their positions on the right. General 
Lyttleton's division advanced under cover of the kopjes, 
and the Boers fired a Creusot and a ''long-tom." The 
British artillery was well sheltered in the action at day- 
break and until late in the afternoon, when a heavy 
rifle fire on both sides developed. 

The British infantry had advanced a mile and a half, 
and a continuous fire was kept up until after dark. 
The Boers stuck to their positions. 



214 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The British fire was irregular. A few salvos were 
sent toward the thickly wooded spots and ravines from 
which the Boer fire was heaviest. The Boers sent 
shells into the headquarters' baggage, close to the 
hospital, but no material damage was done. 

The Boer positions were not considered strong, with 
the exception of Grobler's kloof. The hills eastward 
are not so high, and could not be entrenched so well as 
the mountains which the British had taken. 

The Somersets were the first across the pontoon on 
the 2 1 St. They were subjected to a heavy fire during 
five hours in an isolated position. It was the first time 
they had been under fire, and they behaved excellently. 

Early on the morning of the 22d, a severe rifle fire 
was resumed on the right and front, from the positions 
held over night, by both sides. The British naval guns, 
howitzers, mountain and field-batteries shelled the Boer 
trenches incessantly. The Boers replied with two heavy 
guns, some of their shells bursting over the hospital. 
As a result, the British wounded were removed. 

During the afternoon, the 5 th Brigade, the Innis- 
killens and Dublins leading, began to advance up the 
hill. In spite of the constant shelling, the Boers stood 
up in their trenches, aiming deliberately down the 
hills. 

The infantry advance was further covered by parties 
on the right and left, firing volleys. It was slow, the 
British taking advantage of every bit of natural cover. 
The Boers, on the crests of the hills, as well as from 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 215 

the trenches part of the way down, poured lead along 
the advancing line. 

At dark, the British infantry had reached within a 
few hundred yards of the first line of Boer trenches. 

On the 23d, Commandant De Wet made a desperate 
attempt to aid General Cronje, but was checked by 
Lord Roberts, at Petrusberg. 

General Gatacre made a reconnoissance in force on 
the 24th of February, from Sterkstroom, with eight 
guns, and found the Boers occupying a ridge three 
miles beyond Molteno, in the Stormberg direction. 
Montmorency's scouts charged the Boers, who crept 
around the scouts' flank, pouring in a deadly fire. The 
scouts were finally compelled to retire, having lost 
heavily. Captain Montmorency and Lieut.-Col. F. 
H. Hoskier, of the Third Middlesex Volunteer Artil- 
lery, were killed. Fourteen of the force were reported 
missing. 

Lord Roberts's plan included the crushing of Cronje's 
force, and the capture of that former general whose loss 
would be so deeply felt by the republicans ; therefore 
all else in the campaign was made subservient to this 
purpose. 

That the commander-in-chief was in no haste to put 
an end to the situation such as had existed from Febru- 
ary 1 6th, can well be understood. Each day brought 
small parties of Boers, in a vain effort to relieve General 
Cronje, and these Lord Roberts could attend to in 
detail, swelling his list of prisoners hourly, until he 



2l6 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

would soon have quite a respectable offset for the three 
thousand British captives in Pretoria. 

Affairs were moving in accordance with Roberts's 
wishes. Buller was making a most stubbornly con- 
tested but cautious advance toward Ladysmith, and in 
the northern portion of Cape Colony the British were 
gathering up such loose ends as escaped the strict 
attention of the Boers. 

General Brabant aided in the general advance by 
occupying Jamestown, and the Boers were forced to 
retire from around Arundel, lest they should sud- 
denly find themselves in a net from which was no 
escape. 

February 27th was a black Tuesday for the Republi- 
cans. Cronje, worn out at last, surrendered to Lord 
Roberts, with his entire force of four thousand men 
and fifteen guns, by which move twenty-nine Trans- 
vaal and eighteen Free State officers were added to 
the list of prisoners. Included in the surrender were 
Chief Commandant Wolverans, Field Cornet Frus, a 
Scandinavian, Major Albrecht, a famous German artil- 
leryman, and Major Von Denitz, a distinguished Ger- 
man engineer. 

On the same day, General Buller carried Pieter's 
Hill by assault, putting the enemy to rout, and captur- 
ing sixty Boers. 

In the evening of this same 27th of February, the 
siege of Ladysmith was raised. 

The month was brought to a successful close, from a 



LORD ROBERTS S ADVANCE. 2 1 7 

British standpoint, by the rehef of the sorely-tried garri- 
son, the occupation of Colesberg, by General Clements, 
and the reoccupation of Rensburg. 

The Boers, from this time forward, were to do battle 
on their own territory. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



VAAL KRANTZ. 



y^^ENERAL BULLER'S third attempt to relieve 
^'-^ Ladysmith was begun when, on February 6th, he 
crossed the Tugela at Potgieter's drift. It came to an 
unsuccessful end when, after fighting three days, he was 
forced to retire from Vaal Krantz. 

It was well known twenty-four hours in advance, even 
to the camp-followers, that on Monday, February 5th, 
General Buller intended attacking the line of low hills 
opposite Potgieter's drift. 

Brakfontein is the principal feature of the chain that, 
running nearly east and west, connects the Spion Kop 
mountain ridges with Doom Kloof. There was to be 
a feint or demonstration from the British left against 
Brakfontein, and a determined attack later in the day 
upon the right, to carry the separated, crested hill of 
Vaal Krantz. 

From Signal Hill and Swartzkop, General Buller 
and staff had looked upon Vaal Krantz. They came to 
the conclusion that it was possible to seize the hill, for 
the Boers had not strongly fortified the naturally advan- 
tageous position. From Vaal Krantz, Krantz Kloof 

218 



VAAL KRANTZ. 219 

and other positions were to be occupied, and, under 
the cover which the interlocking ridges gave, the army 
was to be hurried across the Tugela upon pontoon 
bridges, to threaten Brakfontein and other sahent 
points from flank and rear. 

It all looked very feasible from Swartzkop ; but in 
that corner of Natal, every hill seems to be commanded 
by another behind or to left of the one it is proposed to 
occupy. 

Very quietly the British preparations were completed. 
Guns were, with infinite labour, placed upon Swartzkop, 
and Warren's division, with other troops, moved down 
toward the intended field of action. The ever wonder- 
ful mules somehow, notwithstanding many falls, got the 
mountain-battery up, although the place was as steep, 
in parts, as the side of a house. The sailors, helped by 
the Scottish Rifles, with steel hausers, warped their 
guns up over the worst part. It was altogether as 
astounding a performance as heaving batteries to the 
masthead of a ship. The ammunition was carried by 
hand, each man bearing a shell or powder charge. 

At 6 A. M., February 5th, the cavalry went forward, 
but it was an hour later ere the British guns from 
Mount Alice began the battle. They directed their 
fire against the Boer works upon Spion Kop, Brak- 
fontein, and the positions fronting Potgieter's. 

About 9 A. M., Major-General Wynne, who had suc- 
ceeded to the command of the Lancashire Brigade after 
General Woodgate was wounded, led his men forward 



220 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

from behind the five low, detached hills or hillocks, a 
mile north of Potgieter's drift. The new balloon was 
sent up to spy out what the Boers were about, and 
more particularly where their cannons were placed. 

As the Lancashire Brigade went forward in widely 
spread and far apart successive lines of skirmishers, 
five field-batteries, and the 50-pound howitzers thun- 
dered lyddite and shrapnel upon the enemy's trenches 
and works. The balloonist directed by telephone where 
the Boers clustered thickest behind their defences. 

The British infantry went steadily, slowly forward, as 
if to charge the Boer works. By 9.30 a. m. they were 
near enough for the enemy to begin sniping in earnest 
at ranges of twelve hundred yards or less. Their marks- 
manship was indifferent, and the troops, disregarding 
their tormentors, walked or ran forward. At convenient 
stages they would lie flat upon the ground and open 
independent volley firing at the enemy, concealed in 
dongas and trenches. 

Meanwhile, the Royal Engineers were busily laying 
down a trestlework and pontoon bridge combined, near 
Hunger's drift, which is up-stream from Schiet drift. 
When the enemy discovered what was going on at the 
drift, they opened a sharp fusilade upon the sappers 
and the covering party of soldiers. Their aim was 
poor, and only five sappers and a few soldiers were 
wounded. 

Whilst the cannon and rifles were flashing fire and 
hurling death, there were two helios at Ladysmith 



VAAL KRANTZ. 221 

glittering and sending messages to Signal Hill. By 
means of such simple apparatus Generals Buller and 
White were able to communicate fully with each other. 

The bridge having been completed, there was no 
further need for continuing the demonstration- before 
Brakfontein. Under a redoubled fire from Boer guns 
and Mausers, General Wynne proceeded to withdraw 
his brigade very deliberately, and in perfect order. 
Toward noon, the storm of artillery — the roar and 
shock of cannon, and. the shriek of shells in midair — 
was almost deafening and bewildering. The great 
missiles tore overhead with the uproar of a locomotive 
hammering through a tunnel at express speed. When 
the din became furious, musketry joining in, it was as 
the tear and whirl of hundreds of huge machinery 
wheels broken loose, or many engines racing. 

Never was stouter, more indomitable courage dis- 
played than by the howitzer and field-batteries of the 
British force. A hurricane of Boer common and shrap- 
nel shell descended upon them. Shells burst to right 
and left, in front and behind them, but found them 
unmoved. The missiles struck under the limbers, 
almost under the gunners' feet, and out of the bursting, 
splashing smoke and dust-encircling clouds steadily the 
gunners laid their pieces and pulled the lanyards, the 
flash of exploding shell answering upon the instant with 
darting flame from British cannon. To and fro the 
gunners walked, doing their duty without fluster or 
haste, and showing by their shooting that their aim was 



2 22 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

good and true. Horses were wounded, and one or two 
were killed. A few gunners also fell, and were carried 
in, and for nearly an hour the contest rose and fell from 
the enemy's lines ; but from the British position the fire 
continued with unabated force and steadiness. 

The atmosphere grew clearer as the afternoon 
advanced. At 3 p. m., from near Hunger's farm, 
Lyttleton launched his brigade at Vaal Krantz. With 
the Durham Light Infantry leading, and the 3d Bat- 
talion King's Royal Rifles upon the right, uprose the 
troops from the sloping banks of the Tugela, and dashed 
forward toward the rugged sides of Vaal Krantz. From 
front and flanks the enemy opened fire. 

On leaving the protection of the river bank, the Dur- 
hams were exposed to a withering musket fire, while 
the Creusot on the left of Vaal Krantz, and the Maxim 
automatic well up the valley aided the Boer riflemen in 
delaying the advance. The work of pounding ahead in 
the face of so galling a fire was both difficult and ardu- 
ous, but the Durham s steadily crept forward, replying 
as well as they could to the enemy's fire, which pres- 
ently came with a deafening roll from Vaal Kop and 
right along Vaal Krantz, and they reached the right 
donga with comparatively few casualties. 

The advance was slightly checked by a deep pool. 
Once the latter was circled, and the men had reached 
the dip between the two dongas, they were not so 
directly exposed to a frontal fire, and were able to draw 
breath before making their final rush. 



VAAL KRANTZ. 223 

There was no reason to suppose that Vaal Kop itself 
was very strongly held, but the ridges farther on 
undoubtedly were. Moreover, the precipitous character 
of the kopje rendered its tenure by even two hundred 
of the enemy a not impossible feature. The Boers 
detailed to hold the position refused to budge until 
the Durham s had left the dongas and made a start for 
them. 

On arriving at the foot of the kopje, word was given 
to fix bayonets and charge, and the Durhams ran up 
the hill. Forty or more Boers, who stayed to the last on 
the near base, scurried before them, leaving their horses 
behind. The fire from the high ridge to the left became 
very deadly, and Maj. Johnson Smythe fell, shot through 
the throat, while leading his company. 

Up, still up, panting through the steepness of the 
ascent, the Durhams charged, the Boers still fleeing 
before them, until the latter disappeared over the crest, 
and the position was won. 

A fairly determined effort was made by the Boers, 
toward the close of the day, to drive the British from 
the Vaal Krantz, but, reinforced by the Scottish Rifles 
and the 3d Battalion of King's Royal Rifles, the men 
without much difficulty repulsed the assailing Boers and 
held their ground. 

Hildyard had moved up to render assistance, but 
Lyttleton, with two battalions, was able to deal with 
every effort made by the Boers. The day, on the whole, 
closed auspiciously. The Boers had been driven from 



2 24 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE, 

Vaal Krantz, the key of their advanced position, facing 
the drifts. 

It now remained for the English to turn the Boer 
works to the right and left, or march on to Lady- 
smith ; but this last was not practicable, so far as 
concerned the baggage and supply trains, while the 
Republicans were in a position to fire upon the drifts 
and pontoons. 

The Boers cunningly set fire to the grass near General 
Lyttleton's position, and by means of the light it gave 
they shelled the brigade during the night, bringing up 
the Maxim cannon. But still the English held their 
own, and more, having forced the enemy farther from 
the hill. 

Before sunrise the Boers startled the camps by firing 
from Doom Kloof their 96-pounder Creusot guns. The 
shells burst in every direction, several falling at no 
great distance from General Buller's headquarters. 
The British big guns and naval 12-pounders bent all 
their energies to knocking out the 96-pounder, but 
without success. 

During the afternoon of the 6th, General Buller gave 
up all hope of penetrating the Boer lines, because he 
could not advance toward the left without certainty of 
a heavy loss. 

Finding that he could not, from the nature of the 
surface of the hill, entrench the troops in order to 
protect them against the enemy's fire, and was unable 
to silence their big guns, he determined to abandon 



VAAL KRANTZ. 2 25 

the idea of opening up a route to Ladysmith in that 
direction. 

According to observation from the balloon, the enemy- 
were seen in very large numbers on the hills, and a 
large force was reported as moving in a westerly direc- 
tion, apparently with a view of making a flank move- 
ment. 

At sunset, on the 6th, Hildyard's brigade relieved 
Lyttleton on Vaal Krantz, and the former was imme- 
diately called upon to repulse a very severe attack on 
the enemy, which his brigade did in gallant style. 
Wednesday, the 7th, was much as Tuesday had been, 
with fighting all day, but the British were making little 
or no progress upon or along Vaal Krantz. 

On the afternoon of the 7th there was a council of 
war upon the field, at which all the generals were 
present except Clery, who had met with an accident to 
his leg, which confined him temporarily to bed. All 
advocated retirement, as the lines could not be forced, 
except Major-General Hart, who was for storming 
Doom Kop. The Dublin Fusiliers volunteered to 
capture or destroy the one or two Boer " long-toms " 
upon Doom Kop, and General Hart wanted to lead 
them. 

At 6 p. M., on Wednesday, orders were issued for the 
retirement of the supply column. 

While the backward movement proceeded, the big 
guns of the Boers continued their storm of shells, and 
on Friday morning, February 9th, the last of the rehef 



226 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

column prepared to leave the scene of the third failure 
to force the Boer cordon at the Tugela. 

The queen's troops had fought as well as ever ; but 
yet they had lost again. They were not defeated — 
not disgraced ; but despondent. 



CHAPTER XX. 



LORD ROBERTS. 



TTEW military men have so completely won the 
-^ admiration of their followers as has Field-Mar- 
shal Lord Frederick Sleigh Roberts, V. C, Baron of 
Kandahar and Waterford. Fewer still are the com- 
manders who have enjoyed so large a measure of their 
soldiers' love as that which the English and Indian 
armies long ago gave to " Bobs," " Little Bobs," or 
"Bobsy," as he is variously known in their terms of 
endearment. 

This feeling for their hero is almost that of a family 
for its head. There is something patriarchal about it. 
"Tommy," be he Briton or be he Indian, dearly loves 
a hero, but when he finds a man who combines moral 
and physical courage of a high order with brilliancy, 
dash, and modesty, and a keen personal regard for the 
comfort of the man in the rank, " Tommy " straight- 
way falls down and worships. And he has been doing 
that before " Bobs " for these many years. 

With never a failure in his record. Lord Roberts has 
many a feat of generalship and individual bravery to 
his credit. That for which he is most famous is his 

227 



2 28 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

march from Kabul to the relief of Kandahar, in 1880, 
while England was on tenterhooks of anxiety as to his 
safety. 

His successful movement of a body comprising about 
ten thousand fighters, - — British and Indian, — eight 
thousand camp-followers, and twenty-three hundred 
horses and gun mules, through difficult, hostile territory, 
in three weeks, with the loss of only one British soldier 
and a dozen natives, is considered by competent critics 
the most remarkable achievement of its kind in modern 
times. A special bronze star was given to each of the 
men participating in the march. 

His rapidity completely baffled the enemy in his own 
country, and enabled Roberts to administer the crushing 
blow which ended the campaign. 

Upon his return to England after that campaign he 
was thanked by the government of India and by both 
houses of Parliament. The queen summoned him to 
Windsor. The municipality of London presented to 
him a sword and the freedom of the city. Universities, 
the ancient trade guilds, and commercial bodies vied with 
one another in giving degrees, privileges, banquets, and 
addresses. 

But that was only one episode in a brilliant career, 
and many of those best qualified to judge believe that 
Roberts's most valuable services to the empire were 
comprised in the arduous, unobtrusive labours by which 
he remodelled the frontier defences and virtually re- 
made the Indian army, bringing it to its present high 



LORD ROBERTS. 229 

efficiency. More than once his reforming opinions 
were so opposed to general notions at the time that 
they made him the object of attack, and even ridicule. 
But he stuck to them, and later was vindicated by their 
adoption. 

Much of his success as a general and as a builder 
was due, not only to his remarkable magnetism, but to 
his close touch with the men in the ranks. Leaving 
India in 1893, after two terms, or nearly eight years, as 
commander-in-chief, at a farewell banquet in Calcutta, 
he strongly urged upon all officers the necessity for 
showing sympathy with soldiers and their families, and 
of giving effect to orders in a liberal and intelligent 
spirit. 

On the same occasion, he showed his faith in his 
system by saying that, if the time of trial should ever 
come, India could rest secure, not only on her troops, 
her forts, and her guns, but on the loyalty of her foun- 
datories and the affection of her subjects. He always 
gave the credit of his victories to the men under his 
command. 

One of his names among the people who honoured 
him only second to their sovereign in the parade on the 
occasion of her diamond jubilee, two and a half years 
ago, is that of the "soldiers' general." No military 
leader in England stands higher in the hearts of the 
British nation, and, in the judgment of European critics, 
his ability ranks with or above that of Lord Wolseley, 
his commander-in-chief. 



230 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

After passing through Eton and Sandhurst, Freder- 
ick Roberts, then nineteen years old, obtained his first 
commission as a second lieutenant in the Bengal Artil- 
lery, on December 12, 185 1. Going at once to India, 
he learned from his father much about Afghanistan and 
the campaign through which General Sir Abraham 
Roberts had just passed, thereby laying the foundation 
of the knowledge which he later put to such good 
use. 

He soon afterward obtained a staff appointment, and, 
discovering the value of Hindustani, set to work to 
acquire the language with the assiduous thoroughness 
characteristic of all his doings. 

He went through the Mutiny in 1857 and 1858, from 
the siege and capture of Delhi to the relief of Lucknow, 
winning distinction through his courage and ability. 
Three horses were shot under him during the cam- 
paign. 

In his own characteristic way he won the Victoria 
Cross. He had just saved a native officer's life, when 
he saw two Sepoys carrying off the colours. Dashing 
after them, he slew one, and, seizing the standard, 
brought it back in triumph. He would have lost his 
life had not a musket missed fire while its muzzle was 
pressed against his body. 

In one of his earlier engagements, while aiding drivers 
to limber up a gun, he was shot near the spine, and 
the wound was not mortal only because a leathern 
pouch, which had slipped around to his back, received 



LORD ROBERTS. 23 1 

the force of the impact. He left the Mutiny as a 
brevet major, and wearing a medal with three clasps. 

In 1859 he married Miss Bews, a daughter of Cap- 
tain Bews, of the 73d Regiment, She entered thoroughly 
into his work, and her sympathy has greatly aided him. 
This lady and two daughters now comprise his family. 

In i860 he became a regimental captain. After 
quiet administrative work he won a medal and clasp 
in the Umbeylan campaign in 1863. 

He joined the expedition of Lord Napier of Magdala 
to Abyssinia in 1868. As assistant quartermaster- 
general he superintended the embarkation of the en- 
tire expedition. He was thrice mentioned for his 
services, and Lord Napier selected him as a bearer of 
the despatches which announced the entire success of 
the expedition. Thus he won another medal and was 
brevetted lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Artillery. 

As a reward for his services with the Looshai expedi- 
tionary force, in 1872, he was made a military companion 
of the Order of the Bath. 

He qualified as colonel in 1875, and received an 
appointment as permanent quartermaster-general, with 
the local rank of major-general. 

Lord Lytton offered him the command of the Punjab 
forces in 1878, when he became a major-general of the 
army. 

In 1 879, he received the command of eastern Afghan- 
istan, from Kabul to Jamrud. It was in the war which 
broke out soon afterward, that he first began to attract 



232 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the general public attention which culminated in enthu- 
siasm over his famous march. During the campaign 
he was mentioned eight times in the despatches. 

On his march to Kabul in 1879, while in command of 
the Kurum Valley force, he fought a fierce and bloody 
battle at Pewar Kotal, winning a brilliant victory at 
Charasai before his capture of the capital. Thence 
he had to retire to Sherpur cantonments, where his 
foresight had led to the construction of a strongly en- 
trenched position for just such an emergency. 

Throughout the winter he held the place with a force 
of seven thousand, against one hundred thousand fierce 
tribesmen, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements, with 
the aid of which he promptly recaptured Kabul, and 
was ready to march to Kandahar when the necessity 
presented itself. 

From 1881 to 1885 he was in command of the 
Madras Presidency troops, and his latest fighting was 
with the Burmah expedition, in 1886. He was com- 
mander-in-chief of the forces in India from 1885 to 
1893, and then was succeeded, largely on his own 
recommendation, by General Sir George White, lately 
beleaguered in Ladysmith. 

After his return to England, Lord Roberts was made 
commander of the forces in Ireland. He was raised to 
the peerage as Baron of Kandahar in Afghanistan, and 
of the city of Waterford, in 1 892. 

Hastily despatched to Cape Town as governor of 
Cape Colony and commander of the forces there, he 



LORD ROBERTS. 233 

arrived just after the battle of Majuba Hill, when peace 
had been declared. " A peace, alas ! without honour," 
he recently said, " to which may be attributed the recent 
state of affairs in the Transvaal." He was summoned 
back to England after less than twenty-four hours in 
Cape Town. 

He was created a military knight of the Grand Cross 
of the Bath, and a baronet in June, 1881, in recognition 
of his distinguished services in India. 

He is very small in stature, but has all the wit and 
geniality accredited to Irish blood, and has the habit 
of being successful. 

The higher circles of the British army government 
are supposed to be divided into two opposing schools, 
of which Lord Wolseley is at the head of one and Lord 
Roberts at the head of the other. The Wolseley camp 
had been in command in South Africa until Lord 
Roberts's appointment. 

His only son was killed at Tugela River, and his 
nephew. Colonel Sherston, fell at Glencoe. 

As showing the sentiment of the British public for 
Lord Roberts as a soldier, the following report is given 
of his departure from London to Southampton en route 
to Africa, to take command of the army : 

" Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, who is to assume com- 
mand of the British forces in .South Africa, left Water- 
loo railroad station, London, at noon of December 23, 
1899, amid scenes of great enthusiasm, vividly demon- 
strating the national interest in the event and the belief 



2 34 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

that the departure of the general may be accepted as a 
guarantee that whatever can be done in South Africa 
will be carried out by thoroughly competent hands and 
on carefully matured lines. 

" Although only privileged persons were permitted to 
enter the station, this did not prevent the gathering of 
an immense throng at all the approaches and other 
points of vantage, who cheered repeatedly as 'Bobs,' 
accompanied by his wife and two daughters, drove up. 
Seldom has the terminus witnessed such an inspiring 
send-off. Every appearance of the field-marshal was 
the signal for ringing hurrahs, lusty shouts, and good 
wishes. 

" The moment the veteran commander arrived he was 
surrounded by military officers and other friends, and 
held a semi-private reception in the waiting-room. 
After personal leave-taking. Lord Roberts reached the 
platform, where general greetings and parting words 
were exchanged, 

"As the general joined his wife and daughters at the 
door of the saloon carriage, he was speedily surrounded 
by distinguished statesmen and military men, including 
Mr. A. J. Balfour, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Field- 
Marshal Sir Donald Stewart, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Carington, the queen's equerry. Lord Wolseley and 
others arrived late, and it required all the efforts of the 
police to clear a passage for them. 

** Scarcely had the commander-in-chief joined Lord 
Roberts when a great cheer announced the approach of 



LORD ROBERTS. 235 

the Duke of Cambridge. The crush was so great that 
the duke, in spite of pohce protection, was so hustled 
that, more than once, he gave verbal expression of 
resentment at the rough treatment he had to submit to, 
and the police redoubled their efforts, finally enabling 
him to reach Lord Roberts, though in the confusion the 
police thrust aside many of those who were best entitled 
to remain, including Lord Wolseley, who, however, took 
the rough handling of the police good-hum ouredly. The 
ladies suffered much from the crowd, but their appeals 
were unavailing to stem the crush. 

" Renewed cheering heralded the Duke of Con- 
naught's arrival. Then rousing cheers momentarily 
diverted attention from the hero of the hour as the 
Prince of Wales appeared and greeted Lord Roberts in 
the most cordial manner. The prince and the distin- 
guished general engaged in earnest conversation and 
furnished a striking centre to a notable group, which 
included no less than five field-marshals. 

" At the time the train was due to start, the Prince of 
Wales again shook hands with Lord Roberts and spoke 
a few words to the general, of which the phrases, 'God 
bless you,' * Good luck to you,' were caught by those 
near by. 

" The prince also said : ' Good-bye, Bobs, a happy 
Christmas, a prosperous new year, and every possible 
luck in your job.' 

" Amid the din, enthusiasm, and excitement no one 
heard the signal for departure, and, in consequence, the 



236 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

train was moving while Lord Roberts was still on the 
platform with his back to the carriage door. The fare- 
wells were abruptly terminated, and Lord Roberts was 
forced to make a somewhat undignified scramble for his 
seat. As the general disappeared in the saloon carriage 
a final lusty cheer was started and continued until the 
train passed out of sight. 

" On arriving at Southampton General Roberts was 
heartily cheered by thousands of people, and as he 
boarded the Dimottar Castle, between a guard of honour 
of marines and bluejackets, there was a renewed out- 
burst of applause." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



KIMBERLEY. 



/^~\N the 15th day of October, in the year 1899, there 
^-^ was flashed over telegraph wire and cable the 
announcement: "Kimberley is invested!" 

Each morning thereafter, throughout the English* 
speaking world, until the sun had risen one hundred 
and twenty-three times, the question was eagerly asked : 
"What news from Kimberley? " 

Not until the 15th day of February, 1900, did the 
long-hoped-for news come forth from Africa : " Kim- 
berley has been relieved!" 

Twenty thousand people were shut up in an African 
town, remaining almost helpless under the shells of the 
Boer guns for seven or eight weeks, with a British army 
immovable only twenty-five miles away, condemned to a 
monotonous period of waiting after Lord Methuen with- 
drew from the fatal rifle trenches of Magersfontein to 
entrench himself at Modder River. 

The garrison was not strong enough to make a diver- 
tissement, while the Boer force contented itself with the 
expectation of being able to starve the place into sub- 
mission. Methuen's entrenchment at Modder River, 

237 



238 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

however, had the important effect of preventing General 
Cronje from weakening his line to exert pressure on the 
town. 

The investment began on October 15 th, when Kim- 
berley was isolated, the Boers cutting the Bulwayo rail- 
way north and south. The garrison had been organised 
by Colonel Kekewich, aided by Captain O'Mara and 
Lieutenant Maclnnes, both of the Royal Engineers. 
Major Scott-Turner was the fourth officer responsible 
for the defence in the early days. He lost his life in a 
sortie in the town. Under these officers were placed 
four companies of the North Lancashire regiment, a 
battery of Royal Garrison Artillery, under Major 
Chamier, and a detachment of Royal Engineers. 

Some troops of Cape Police, the Kimberley Light 
Horse, and the town guards were welded into a compact 
force, which showed itself eager in keeping the Boers at 
a distance from the town. The garrison thus consisted 
of about seven hundred imperial troops, and, with the 
colonial and other forces, reached a total of about 
twenty-seven thousand. A detachment of the royal 
army medical corps, with ambulances, was also included 
in the garrison, and gave effective service. 

Lieut. -Col. R. G. Kekewich, the colonel of the Lan- 
cashire regiment, and commandant of the town, gained a 
reputation on the staff in Egypt from 1 884 to 1 890, and 
has been military secretary to two commanders-in-chief. 

A few days before the formal declaration of war by 
the republics, Colonel Kekewich held a review of his 



KIMBERLEY. 239 

garrison. The brave show put heart into the inhabit- 
ants. The town was well supplied with cattle and pro- 
visions, and elaborate defences had been constructed 
with earthworks made out of "the rubbish heaps of the 
mines, sixty feet high, and with miles of barbed wire. 

For the Boers Kimberley was a prize worth almost 
any cost. There were the diamond mines, to begin 
with, and the loot to be obtained in the most important 
town of upper Cape Colony. From a military point 
of view its capture would mean the prevention of its 
being utilised as a base for any British army operating 
against the Orange Free State. 

' More piquant interest, however, was given to the 
siege by the fact that almost the last arrival in the town, 
before its isolation on October 15th, was that of Cecil 
Rhodes, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Rochfort 
Maguire. James Rochfort Maguire, who has been 
associated with Mr. Rhodes, was a co-director in many 
colossal enterprises, particularly the South African 
Chartered Company, and is an old Oxford chum of Mr, 
Rhodes. His wife, the Hon. Mrs. James Maguire, was 
before her marriage the Miss Peel who presided at the 
Speaker's house when her father, Viscount Peel, was 
Speaker of the House of Commons. 

Mr. Rhodes had determined to cast in his lot with 
the town so closely identified with his fortunes. Rumour 
was busy with tales of the fate in store for one regarded 
by the Boers as their arch-enemy, should he fall into 
their hands. It was said that President Kruger had set 



240 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

a price on Mr. Rhodes's head, with the reward of a large 
land grant to the fortunate captor. To avoid such a 
fate Mr. Rhodes, so the story went, had provided him- 
self with a balloon as a means of escape at the last 
moment. Whatever basis of truth lay in these pictur- 
esque details, Mr. Rhodes set himself to aid the defence 
with characteristic energy. 

During the first few weeks some sharp fighting took 
place between the garrison and the investing Boers. 
The reconnoissances and sorties were successful in pre- 
venting the enemy approaching the town too closely. 

A hot engagement, the conclusion of which was 
fought out within sight of Kimberley, and was wit- 
nessed by many spectators, took place, October 24th, 
before daybreak. 

A patrol of mounted police and volunteers, number- 
ing over three thousand men, was despatched, under 
command of Major Scott-Turner, to make a reconnois- 
sance northward beyond MacFarland's farm. An 
armoured train supported the reconnoissance. Major 
Scott-Turner got in contact with the enemy at an 
early hour. They were first seen in scattered parties, 
but quickly appeared in considerable force, endeavour- 
ing, by manoeuvres on the right, to get between Scott- 
Turner's patrol and the armoured train. 

As soon as he became aware of the fact that fighting 
had begun. Colonel Kekewich sent out a train with a 
detachment of the North Lancashire regiment, under 
command of Major Murray, together with two guns 



KIMBERLEY. 24 1 

of the Diamond field artillery, under Captain May. 
The latter went by the road. The enemy despatched 
a big force for the purpose of intercepting these guns. 

The Boers, occupying a strong position upon a wooded 
ridge at the right of the road, opened a furious fusilade, 
at a range of eight hundred yards, before the British 
guns could be unlirabered. 

The volunteer artillery, though taken at a disadvan- 
tage, behaved with great coolness, and quickly got their 
guns into action, shelling with great vigour the bush 
which concealed the enemy. The marksmanship of the 
Boers was bad, and they were disconcerted by the shell 
fire. 

At this critical moment the North Lancashires re- 
turned by the train, which had gone farther north. 
Under cover of the British guns they attacked the 
enemy's kopje, driving the Boers out of it. Their 
volley firing was effective, and the Boers beat a hasty 
retreat. The English mounted troops were too tired 
by their previous exertion, and, moreover, not suffi- 
ciently numerous to follow the enemy. 

Among the Boer dead was Commandant Botha, of 
Boshof. The body of the Boer leader was found and 
identified. He had been shot through the right breast. 
Among the papers found on Botha's body was a letter 
from Head-Commandant Wessels, instructing him to 
seize Castle Kennilworth as soon as practicable. This 
was believed to have been the object of the Boer move- 
ment. 



242 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The British losses were four killed and eleven 
wounded. 

Commander Botha, who was among the killed, was 
a member of the Volksraad, and a famous Dutch 
fighter. He distinguished himself as a marksman at 
Brenkhorst Spruit, when the 94th British Regiment 
was mowed down. He afterward defended a farmhouse 
against the British. When he surrendered the farm- 
house, Botha was found with five wounds, bathed in 
blood. 

On November 9th, the bombardment of Kimberley 
was begun. On the nth Colonel Kekewich sent the 
following heliographic despatch : 

"The enemy was very active early on the 4th, en- 
deavouring to drive off our cattle, but retired rapidly 
before Colonel Turner's advance, remaining quiet until 
12.30 p. M., when the Transvaal troops advanced on 
Kennil worth. Major Peakman, with a squadron of 
Kimberley Light Horse, was hiding in the bush, and 
gave the enemy a warm reception. The Boers retired 
firing. Colonel Turner was reinforced by Major Peak- 
man, and at 12.45 the enemy opened fire with one 
piece of artillery, at nearly four thousand yards' range. 

"Two guns of the Diamond field artillery were then 
in support of Colonel Turner, but the enemy's guns 
had ceased firing after the fifth round. Consequently 
our guns did not come into action. The enemy's 
artillery fire was not damaging, and his shooting was 
bad. 



KIMBERLEY. 243 

" Our casualties in the Kennil worth engagement 
were limited to Major Ayleff of the Cape Police, who 
was wounded in the neck. He is expected to recover. 
Later in the day, our pickets say, the Boers carried off 
six dead from one spot, probably killed by our Maxim. 
The total Boer loss was probably heavy. 

"About 5.30 P.M. Colonel Turner was again in 
contact with a new body of the enemy on the Schnest 
drift road. From the conning-tower a large number 
could be plainly seen about two miles to the north of 
the Kimberley reservoir, and others held a walled enclo- 
sure on their own right flank. Colonel Turner opened 
with a Maxim, and two guns of the Diamond field artil- 
lery, sent in support. He came into action at 5.47 
p. M., and continued firing until dusk. 

" Our further casualties there were Private Lubde, of 
the Cape Police, who was shot through the head and 
died on arriving at the hospital, and Sergeant Water- 
marge, of the Kimberley division of the Cape Police, was 
wounded, but is doing well. 

"At 6.10 p. M. the enemy opened fire with one piece 
of artillery from Kamper's dam, on Otto's kopje, the 
latter being held by the Cape Police. The enemy 
inflicted no damage." * 

The Boers continued to shell the town actively, and, on 
November i6th, Colonel Kekewich sent a despatch by 
express rider to Orange River, containing the following : 

" Our mounted troops, with two guns, made a sortie 
early this morning. A heavy mist delayed them and 



244 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

hampered their movement. The enemy was discovered 
in great force entrenched in a position guarding the 
ridge. They opened heavy fire at our men, and a fight 
lasting for more than an hour ensued. As there was 
no possibility of storming the position with the small 
force at his command, Colonel Scott-Turner returned to 
Kimberley. 

" Our casualties in the engagement were : Trooper 
George Goodall, of the Kimberley Light Horse, killed, 
and Major Peakman, of the same corps, and some others, 
wounded." 

On the 17th, a second despatch was sent by express 
rider to Orange River, of which the following is an 
extract : 

"To-day's bombardment was rather a feeble affair. 
Altogether the Boer artillery have fired seven hundred 
rounds, but, despite this weight of metal, only one old 
woman has been killed by their fire, and one civilian 
injured. The number of escapes have been wonderful, 
considering that the shells frequently drop in busy 
thoroughfares, and that our mean, jerry-built brick 
buildings offer but a slight resistance. ' 

" After a bombardment lasting for ten days, and 
isolation from the outer world for thirty-three days, the 
inhabitants are anxiously awaiting the early approach of 
the relief column. Our latest news is nearly a fortnight 
old. 

"This afternoon a strong mounted force of artillery 
made a sortie near Beaconsfield, with the object of 



KIMBERLEY. 245 

tempting the enemy to attack. The Boers remained, 
however, in the kopjes and blazed away an immense 
amount of ammunition at an impossible range. A brief 
artillery fire resulted in the Boer guns being silenced. 

" Our only casualty was Captain Bodley, of the Dia- 
mond field horse, wounded. It is now clear that the 
enemy's infantry tactics are entirely defensive, and that 
they are relying on their artillery to compel the sub- 
mission of the garrison. Up to the present, their 
artillery fire has been useless against our redoubts, 
and has done only slight damage to private property. 
Our men are astonished at the strength of the enemy. 
Our losses were due to rifle fire. The Boer shells hurt 
nobody. One pitched among a group of six men, who 
at once dismounted and engaged in a friendly scramble 
for the pieces." 

On November 23d, simultaneously with the defeat of 
the Boers by Lord Methuen, the Kimberley garrison 
captured a laager, but lost a gallant leader in Major 
Scott-Turner, of the Black Watch. 

Hopes now ran high in the town, as Colonel Keke- 
wich was in constant communication with the advancing 
army, by means of the 'electric flashlight. 

The battle of Magersfontein, on December nth, with 
its unwelcome check and the withdrawal of Lord Me- 
thuen to an entrenched position at the Modder River, 
dispersed these expectations, though Colonel Keke- 
wich was probably soon informed of the reason for 
the enforced delay. 



246 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Lord Methuen's settled position served to occupy the 
attention of General Cronje, and no deliberate attack 
was made on Kimberley. The shell fire, though occa- 
sionally heavy, did little damage. 

At Christmas the privations were not extreme, though 
typhoid and scurvy were on the increase. 

Mr. Rhodes again came to the rescue with the dis- 
tribution among the various camps of plum puddings, 
cooked at his residence, the Sanatorium. 

There were still weeks of tedium to be passed before 
any indications were made that the British were to 
assume the offensive, with Kimberley again as the 
immediate objective. 

Early in the siege, the military authorities had put an 
embargo on all the stores. No storekeeper was allowed 
to take advantage of the siege, and the community was 
thus enabled to live at normal prices, so far as the absol- 
ute necessaries of life were concerned, though famine 
prices ruled in the case of fowls, vegetables, and fruit. 

At length there must have been a stir in the air fore- 
telling the end. 

On February 8th, Gen. Hector MacDonald, with the 
Highland Brigade, made his reconnoissance to Koodoes 
drift, a movement which was merely a feint to draw the 
Boers to the westward, while the way was left open for 
French to cut through between Cronje's entrenchments 
at Modder River and Jacobsdal on the eastward. 

On Lord Roberts's arrival at the Modder, everything 
was in train for the execution of the neat piece of 



KIMBERLEY. 247 

Strategy which completely circumvented the Boers. 
General French, once in motion, swept his squadrons 
onward, and brushing aside the parties of Boers who 
attempted to bar his progress, reached Kimberley from 
the southeast on Thursday, February 15th. 

Although the rapid march of General French's divi- 
sion was marked by a number of conflicts, his actual 
entry into Kimberley was virtually unopposed. When 
the British were still eight miles off, the signalling corps 
intercepted a heliograph message from the beleaguered 
garrison to Modder River, saying : 

"The Boers are shelling the town." 

The advance column replied : 

"This is General French, coming to the relief of 
Kimberley." 

The garrison was incredulous, believing the message 
was a Boer ruse, and flashed the query : 

"What regiment are you .''" 

The reply satisfied the defenders of Kimberley that 
the anxiously awaited succour was at hand; and, a few 
hours later. General French, at the head of a column, 
made a triumphant entry into the place, the people sur- 
rounding the troops and intermingling with them, cheer- 
ing wildly, grasping the soldiers' hands, waving flags, 
hats, and handkerchiefs, and exhibiting in a hundred 
ways the intensity of their joy. 

The inhabitants had been on short rations for some 
time, eating horse-flesh and living in burrows under 
heaps of mine refuse. Diminishing rations were served 



248 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

out daily, at eleven o'clock, in the market square under 
shell fire of the enemy, whose guns opened on the 
square whenever the inhabitants assembled. No horse- 
food was left. 

Throughout the siege Cecil Rhodes provided the 
natives with work and food, and thus kept them quiet. 
The miles of convoy, bearing provisions for the relief 
column and the town, slowly winding its way across the 
plains in the direction of Kimberley, was the gladdest 
sight which greeted the eyes of the besieged for four 
months. 

Then was sent to the outer world, by Lord Roberts, 
that message which gave joy and relief to so many : 

"Jacobsdal, February i6th, 2 a. m, — French, with 
a force of artillery, cavalry, and mounted infantry, 
reached Kimberley last evening, Thursday." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

HOW FRENCH REACHED KIMBERLEY. 

THE cavalry division under General French was 
composed of the following troops : Household 
Cavalry, 6th Dragoon Guards, 6th Inniskillen Dragoons, 
loth Hussars, 14th Hussars, 5th Hussars, New South 
Wales Lancers, 2d Dragoons, mounted infantry, includ- 
ing colonial contingents, horse-artillery. 

The first real move of Lord Roberts toward the relief 
of Kimberley was the taking of Dekils drift on Monday, 
February 12th, 

On Tuesday, General French left Dekils drift, and in 
six and one-half hours forced a march to Klip drift, 
twenty-five miles away. Here a slight engagement 
ensued, and the cavalry pushed on a short distance 
further to Rondaval drift, where, after shelling the Boers 
vigorously, a passage was forced. 

The Boers precipitately retired, leaving five laagers 
in the hands of the British, besides a great quantity of 
cattle and three thousand sheep. 

The rapidity of General French's march and the 
overwhelming nature of his force enabled him, in spite 

249 



250 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

of the difficulties of water transportation, to thoroughly 
outwit and surprise the Boers. 

The British casualties were slight. 

General French's division seized three drifts on the 
Modder River. At the third drift the Boers were 
reasonably well entrenched. General French bom- 
barded them and drove them off. Then he moved 
rapidly in the direction of Kimberley, making the dis- 
tance of sixty miles in forty-eight hours. 

The march was so rapid and the heat so intense, that 
many of his horses died of exhaustion ; but he reached 
his goal with insignificant losses, — seven men killed 
and thirty-four wounded. 

The Sixth Division was at Drieput when General 
French rode into Kimberley, and what occurred on the 
day after the relief of the town is thus told by a British 
officer : 

" Kimberley was relieved, and every one that night at 
Drieput was elated at our success, but the full signifi- 
cance of all our rapid movements was only realised the 
following morning. 

" At break of day a great cloud of dust was seen six 
miles from camp, moving in an easterly direction, and 
extending some eight miles in length. The Boers were 
trekking. 

" It came on all as a surprise that this should have 
been accomplished by a force of ten thousand mounted 
men, while one division was twenty miles or more from 
Kimberley, another only at Jacobsdal, and a third far- 



HOW FRENCH REACHED KIMBERLEY. 25 1 

ther off still. But the Boers were seized with a whole- 
some fear of our ten thousand mobile cavalry. They 
had heard of our infantry coming up, and feared, and 
they rightfully feared, being caught in a trap. 

" Soon our mounted infantry patrol, sent out to 
the east, came back and reported that they had been 
driven in by the enemy's advance-guard. They also 
reported that there was a convoy of nearly one 
thousand wagons being escorted along the north of 
the Modder. 

" General Knox's brigade was immediately ordered 
out, with the 8ist and 76th Field Batteries. The con- 
voy had, for the moment, slipped through, and were 
five or six miles farther on. The main body of the 
enemy, however, was attacked. 

" The Boers made a gallant stand to give their trans- 
port time to get through. They took up a strong posi- 
tion north of the Modder on some kopjes with three 
sides, facing south, east, and west. From the eastern 
end of the road followed the course of the river, pro- 
tected by a slight declivity in the ground. At distances 
of about five hundred yards, other kopjes rose, which 
gave the Boers good positions as they fell back, and 
acted as stepping-stones in their line of retreat. 

"The main position was occupied the whole day by 
the bulk of the enemy, who were covering the rest of 
their force as they retired. Our shrapnel played on it 
hour after hour, and the enemy deserved the greatest 
admiration for the manner in which they maintained 



252 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

their position. Their efforts, however, were not des- 
tined to be crowned with success. 

" Four thousand of our mounted infantry, moving en 
echelon, got around their left, or, rather, cut off their 
line of retreat, as we were fighting in parallel lines. 

"Their oxen, having come from Kimberley, were 
exhausted, and before nightfall they had to be out- 
spanned ten miles from their main position. The 76th 
Battery was quickly up there, and ruthlessly played on 
the transport until dark. 

*•' The enemy seemed very determined to get through 
to Koffyfontein, which is extremely strong. They have 
evacuated all their positions, — those around Magersfon- 
tein, as well as those around Kimberley, — and have left 
their guns behind. General French has left Kimberley, 
and is moving around north of the Boers to cut them 
off from Bloemfontein." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 

T ORD ROBERTS began his campaign by strik- 
-*— -/ ing at the principal Boer force in the western 
theatre of war, — that of Commandant Cronje, covering 
the siege of Kimberley. 

In a little over three weeks Lord Roberts completed 
the organisation of his forces. He then quietly massed 
some fifty thousand men, four infantry divisions and a 
cavalry division, near the selected point, reaching Modder 
River station on Friday, February 9th. He put his 
troops in motion with the least possible delay, and on 
Monday, February 12th, the action began. It was an 
attempt to turn the Boer position by a march around its 
left or eastern flank. 

The same day, General French's cavalry seized the 
passages of the Riet River, southeast of Jacobsdal, and 
were at once followed up by two infantry divisions. On 
Tuesday, the cavalry moved north, and seized the cross- 
ings of the Modder River, the infantry following at their 
heels. On Thursday, February 15th, when one division 
of infantry was on the Modder and the other close be- 
hind it, between the two rivers, the cavalry moved 

253 



2 54 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

forward toward Kimberley, dispersing the besiegers 
from the southeastern front, and opening connection 
with the town. 

The same day the troops from the old camp at Mod- 
der River station opened communication with Jacobsdal, 
which had already been taken. Thus Lord Roberts 
had a semicircle around the Boer position at Magers- 
fontein, from Kimberley on the north, to Modder River 
station on the south, and the line was prolonged from 
Modder River station to the northwest so that General 
French might hope, by passing through Kimberley, to 
complete the circle, and thus enable Lord Roberts to 
envelop and capture Cronje's whole force. 

This was the result hoped for. The plan was bril- 
liantly conceived and vigorously executed. But Cronje 
had been able to evade the blow. When General French 
reached Kimberley it was found that Cronje, with the 
bulk of his force, had moved off toward Bloemfontein, 
apparently by the Boshof road, or by a shorter route 
along the north bank of the Modder. The laagers and 
stores abandoned and the convoy captured proved that 
Cronje left in haste, and one of General Kelly-Kenny's 
brigades was despatched in hot pursuit. 

The story of General Cronje's retreat, beginning on 
the 15th, is thus told by one of the English correspon- 
dents : 

"On Thursday, at midnight, headed by General 
Cronje, five thousand Boers, with their heavy guns and 
ox-wagons, evacuated the Magersfontein lines. At 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 255 

dawn, on Friday, the retreating" Boer army was seen 
from the British naval gun station on KHp drift kopje, 
trekking eastward across the British front. 

" Our guns opened on them, and a force of mounted 
infantry, crossing the river, made a dashing charge in 
the attempt to cut off the head of the enemy's column. 
But in half an hour their whole force had gained shelter 
under a line of kopjes. 

*' Meanwhile, two of our batteries had come up, and 
the Oxfords, Buffs, West Ridings, and Gloucesters. 
Our infantry crossed the drift, and for three hours were 
engaged with the enemy, while our batteries shelled 
his position. The mounted infantry kept hard at 
work. 

" Unable to withstand our galling shell fire, the enemy 
retired, disputing every inch of the way, and took up a 
second position on the kopjes to the eastward. It was 
a magnificent spectacle to see the Boer army thus at 
bay. Their rear-guard, two thousand strong, fought us, 
while the main body trekked farther east, and then 
brought their guns into action, while the rear guard 
retired. 

"The action lasted through the day. Our infantry 
fought splendidly, but the enemy held his ground under 
the continued bombardment. Later, the Boer com- 
mander ventured on a bold stroke. Leaving two thou- 
sand of his men under cover, he withdrew the rest from 
his main position and headed for Klip Kraal drift, six 
miles to the east. 



256 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" This movement was soon discovered. Our mounted 
infantry came back across the drift and marched along 
the south bank to endeavour to head off the enemy. 
When they reached the neighbourhood of Klip Kraal 
drift, night had fallen, and half the Boers were already 
across to the south side. Our mounted infantry har- 
assed their movements. 

" Meanwhile, the Boer rear-guard, having covered the 
crossing of the main body, retired slowly, and success- 
fully passed the drift. The rear guard fought desper- 
ately, and as it fell back to the river it was harassed on 
the flank and rear by the British. 

" Having thus passed the Modder under cover of 
darkness, the Boers trekked throughout the night in 
the direction of Bloemfontein. General Kelly-Kenny, 
with the Sixth Division, pursued them at daylight. 
General MacDonald, with the Highlanders, following 
him. MacDonald reached Klip Kraal drift by forced 
marches Sunday. General Kelly-Kenny, moving from 
Klip Kraal drift, was endeavouring to outflank the 
enemy and to cut them off from Bloemfontein, so as to 
drive them back into General MacDonald's hands." 

On the 1 6th, General Kelly-Kenny's division captured 
seventy-eight wagons laden with stores, two wagons of 
Mauser rifles, eight boxes of shells, ten barrels of ex- 
plosives, and a large quantity of stores, all belonging to 
Cronje's laager. 

General Cronje made an official report, under date of 
February i8th, to the effect : 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 257 

" Yesterday morning, about six o'clock, while remov- 
ing the laager near Scholtz Nek, we were attacked by 
the British. The fight lasted until 7.30 in the evening. 

"Although, on the whole, the British were driven 
back, they each time renewed the attack, 

"The loss to the British must have been considerable. 

" Thus far the Boer loss has been eight killed and 
twelve wounded. 

" This morning the British shelled us with cannon. 

" Chief Commandant Ferreira's force was too small 
to stop the calvary from entering Kimberley." 

Commandant Steyn reported that "on Saturday, 
February 17th, and Sunday, February i8th, near Koo- 
doos Rand, he fought the British, who tried to encom- 
pass General Cronje's laager, and drove them off. They 
fought until late Sunday evening. The Boers had one 
man killed and one wounded, and captured booty and 
twenty-one horses and mules. 

" General De Wet says that on Sunday afternoon 
he arrived between Paardeberg and Koodoos Rand, in 
which direction there had been heavy firing since morn- 
ing. He stormed several kopjes, which the British 
vacated, leaving their dead and wounded and forty 
prisoners in the hands of the Boers, who captured the 
kopjes. The Boer loss was two men killed and four 
wounded. The fight lasted until late in the evening." 

The story of the battle on the i8th is thus told by 
a correspondent accompanying the British army : 

" The magnificent night march of General Cronje's 



258 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

force from Magersfontein now appears likely to end in 
disaster. The main body of the Boers is enclosed in a 
terrible death-trap, hiding in the bed of the Modder, 
commanded by the British artillery, and threatened on 
the east and west by the British infantry. 

" The retreating foe made a gallant stand last Sunday. 
Tired and harassed, they still maintain a bold front. It 
is somewhat difficult to explain Sunday's action, in 
which all the British force was engaged, and in which 
General Cronje, under difficult conditions, managed to 
hold his own. 

" Saturday night the British mounted infantry came 
into touch with Cronje's rear-guard, driving it back 
upon the main body. Sunday morning the action was 
renewed, but the Boers, who had entrenched the river- 
bed during the night, prevented a further advance of 
the mounted infantry in this direction. 

" Meanwhile, the Highland Brigade, consisting of the 
Seaforths, the Black Watch, and the Argylls, advanced 
from the south bank, and the Essex, Welsh, and York- 
shires formed a long line on the left, which rested on 
the river, the extreme right being the Welsh. The 
whole line was ordered to envelop the Boers, who lined 
both banks of the river. 

" The firing soon became heavy. The Boers, holding 
a splendid position, covered the left of the Highland 
Brigade, which advanced partly up the river-bed and 
partly in the open, while the rest of the brigade, with 
the other regiments, swung around the front of the 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 259 

Highland Brigade on the level, coverless ground, ex- 
posed to a terrible fire, which obliged them to lie upon 
the ground, as they did during the remainder of the 
day. 

"This began at 7.30 a. m. Through the dreadful heat 
and a terrible thunder-storm, our men hung to the posi- 
tion, answering the Boer fire and shooting steadily. 

" In the meantime, the rest of the infantry completed 
the enveloping movement, the Welsh regiment having 
succeeded in seizing the drift, thus closing in the Boers, 
who had fought throughout with splendid courage. 
General Cronje's laager, full of carts, ammunition, 
and stores, could be plainly seen near the north bank. 

" General Smith-Dorrien collected a large body of men, 
including the Canadians, and crossed the river by Paar- 
deberg drift, advancing toward the laager, which was 
being vigorously shelled. This force made a gallant 
attempt to charge into the laager, but failed. 

"Before seizing the western drift, the Boers occupied 
a kopje on the south bank, running down to the river. 
Therefore their force is cut in two. The Boers hold a 
kopje, and have one Vickers-Maxim, and probably one 
or two other guns. 

" Toward evening the battery on the south side opened, 
cooperating with the battery on the north side. A 
wonderful sight followed. The shells fell with amazing 
precision along the river-bed, opposite the laager, which 
was shelled thoroughly, damaging everything it con- 
tained. One shell set on fire a small ammunition 



26o FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

wagon, which burned nearly all day. Many other 
wagons were set on fire, and the glare was visible at 
a considerable distance, far into the night. 

" The infantry also maintained a terrible fire, which 
was answered vigorously. The scene toward nightfall 
was terribly picturesque, with blazing wagons, the roar- 
ing artillery and the crackling rifle fire. 

"At dawn, on the 20th, it was found that the Boers 
had vacated all their positions south of the Tugela, and 
were in positions among the high hills midway between 
Ladysmith and the river, and making a determined 
stand. They had in the action two Creusot guns." 

Later on that same day, Lord Roberts sent the fol- 
lowing despatch to the War Office : 

" Yesterday afternoon I was satisfied, by a careful 
reconnoissance in force of the enemy's position, that I 
could not assault it, without very heavy loss, which 
I was most anxious to avoid. Accordingly, I decided 
to bombard himi with artillery, and turn my attention to 
the enemy's reinforcements. 

" The result was most satisfactory. The Boers were 
driven off in all directions, losing a good many killed 
and wounded, and about fifty prisoners, who say they 
arrived from Ladysmith two days ago by railroad. 
They also say it was our artillery fire which caused 
them to abandon the kopje they were occupying. Our 
loss was two officers — Captain Campbell, of the 9th 
Lancers, and Lieutenant Houston, of the artillery — and 
four men, all slightly wounded." 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 26 1 

A correspondent wrote, under date of the 21st : 

"The Boer forces under General Cronje are esti- 
mated at eight thousand men. At 12 o'clock he asked 
an armistice of twenty-four hours, which was refused. 
Later he sent a messenger to say that he would sur- 
render. 

" The British general sent a reply, telling him to come 
into camp. Cronje refused, saying there had been a 
misunderstanding, and that he would fight to the 
death. The bombardment was then reopened, and 
our lyddite shells set fire to the Boer wagons. We 
continued shelling the laager through the night, and in 
the morning we resumed with Maxims and rifles, princi- 
pally from the north side. 

" Sunday there was much waste of life in attacking, 
and the same result might have been achieved without 
it. During Monday night seven Boers made an attempt 
to break through our lines, but they were captured and 
their leader killed. Four were carrying letters. It is 
believed that there was one other, who got through. 

" Other prisoners say that General Cronje marched 
from Magersfontein here without outspanning, a dis- 
tance of thirty-three miles. Had he succeeded in escap- 
ing it would have been one of the finest performances 
in the annals of the war. 

" The Canadians m_ade a gallant charge at the laager, 
but were driven back with loss. General MacDonald 
and General Knox are slightly wounded." 

The following account of the work done by British 



262 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

and Boers during the 21st, and of the general situation, 
was sent from Paardeberg : 

" Early yesterday morning a most terrific rattle of 
rifle fire broke out, waking the sleeping camp. It was 
the heaviest fire during the war, and it soon developed 
that the Gloucesters and the Essexes, having lost their 
way, had bivouacked in error close to the Boer laager 
on the north side of the river. As soon as they were 
discovered by the enemy, the latter fusiladed, but the 
British casualties were practically none. 

" Desultory firing continued all day on both the north 
and south banks, General Knox's brigade holding and 
pushing forward the line south of the river, while Gen- 
eral Smith-Dorrien, on the north side, worked toward 
the laager. Meanwhile General French advanced in a 
far easterly direction, near a kopje held by a strong 
force of Cronje's men, reinforced by a Ladysmith con- 
tingent. 

"At the same time. General Broadwood's brigade, 
with a battery of horse artillery, took up positions to the 
left and rear of the same kopje. 

"The front of the hill was thoroughly searched by a 
raking fire, and suddenly the Boers bolted from every 
side toward General French, who headed for the drift, 
shelling vigorously. A great number of the Boers 
escaped, but many were killed by shrapnel, and about 
forty were captured. 

"The kopje was found to be a wonderfully strong 
position naturally, and to form the real key to the posi- 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 263 

tion in case of defence against Boer reinforcements 
advancing from the east. 

" Our first contact with the Ladysmith Boers was sin- 
gularly unfortunate to them. A great deal of forage, 
provisions, and equipment was captured, and the kopje 
was frequently dotted with blood, showing that many 
wounded had been removed. 

" The Boer method of removing their dead is to tie a 
couple of reins to the body, which is thus dragged off 
by two horsemen at full gallop. 

"A deserter who came into camp Tuesday night says 
that the bombardment that day was appalhng in its 
effects, especially in the case of the howitzer batteries 
enfilading the river. 

" Everybody admires the splendid stand of the Burgh- 
ers, but, from a humanitarian point of view, it is consid- 
ered that further resistance on the part of General 
Cronje will be criminal. Every shrapnel-shell finds a 
victim, and unless a miracle occurs his force must be 
wiped out or captured. The former result is terrible 
to contemplate, but although it would require a few 
days, it would be easy to accomplish. 

"Yesterday Lord Roberts sent General Cronje an 
offer of a safe-conduct for the women and children, 
together with a free pass to any point for them, and 
also an offer of doctors and medicine. Cronje's reply 
was a curt refusal, and desultory shelling was resumed 
and continued during the early part of last night. As 
soon as the last gun was fired, the Shropshires, who had 



264 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

been occupying the river-bed since Sunday, rushed 
forward, seized an additional two hundred yards of near 
ground, and entrenched a fresh position before day- 
break. At dawn General Cronje found himself docked 
that amount of space. The Shropshires had done 
excellent work under a galling fire since Sunday, and 
they were relieved by the Gordons to-day. 

" The scene of the last five days' fighting is one of the 
prettiest spots in South Africa. The river, at the point 
where General Cronje is ensconced and fighting for 
life, resembles some parts of the Hudson River, the 
ground all around sloping toward the stream. All 
the highlands are covered by British artillery. Cronje 
is faced in the front and rear from both banks by the 
British, while General French's Horse, far away on the 
flanks, prevents a sudden inrush of Boers. 

" During the artillery firing last evening the mules 
of the 82d Battery, which had remained hitched to the 
carriages, suddenly stampeded and galloped off en 
masse, but to-day the wagons, with one exception, were 
recovered. 

" General French has sent in seventy-five prisoners. 
The British patrol, eight miles to the west, discovered 
thirty Boers wandering away, and corralled them. Alto- 
gether this force has already captured 460 of the enemy, 
while many dead Boers have been seen. 

" To-day a German ambulance attached to the Boer 
forces was allowed to traverse the British lines in front 
of Jacobsdal." 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF GRONJE. 265 

There was a series of sharp fights along the British 
front on the 23d. One thousand Boers, commanded by 
General De Wet, who were known to be operating in 
the immediate front, at early dawn determined to 
attempt to break through the British lines and aid 
General Cronje. 

A body of five hundred Boers moved toward the 
British left, and cantered in the direction of a kopje, 
with the object of occupying it. Unfortunately for the 
Boers, however, the kopje was held by a company of 
Scottish Borderers, who opened a heavy fire. The 
Boers galloped off, but moved again toward another 
British position, with exactly the same result. They 
then made a third attempt to occupy another position, 
but the Borderers were again ready to receive them. 

The third repulse thoroughly disconcerted the Boers, 
who galloped away in a panic. 

Later, perceiving another kopje, the Boers moved 
quickly toward it. This kopje was unoccupied, but the 
Borderers, not to be beaten, raced the Boers for the 
position, and won, occupying the kopje and driving off 
the enemy. A portion of the latter ultimately occupied 
a kopje flanked partially by the Borderers and facing 
another kopje held by the Yorkshires. A vigorous 
fusilade ensued, the British firing truly and accurately, 
and silencing the Boer fire. 

Meanwhile the Buffs were ordered to reinforce the 
Yorkshires in case the Boers should be reinforced. 
The British attack worked around to the right of the 



266 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

kopje held by the Yorkshires, where the 7th Battery is 
stationed, the 67th Battery being placed at a farm near 
the centre of the Borderers' position. A vigorous 
shelling, accompanied by a British fusilade, completely 
silenced the Boers. 

A company of Yorkshires was sent to clear out the 
enemy, but the attempt failed, the Boers opening a 
heavy fire, and the British having no cover. 

The British then again opened a heavy rifle fire, which 
again silenced the Boers. The enemy made several 
attempts to run, but the Maxims opened upon them 
effectually and checked them. The Buffs now worked 
carefully and cautiously around, and got within 150 
yards of the Boers. Eighty surrendered, but many, it 
appears, escaped, going singly. 

The story of the end came suddenly, although all 
were hoping for such a result. On the 27th, at 7.45 
A. M., Lord Roberts telegraphed from Paardeberg : 

"General Cronje and all his force capitulated uncon- 
ditionally at daylight, and are now prisoners in my 
camp. 

"The strength of his force will be communicated 
later. 

" I hope that her Majesty's government will consider 
this event satisfactory, occurring as it does on the anni- 
versary of Majuba Hill." 

This despatch was followed four hours later by a 
second, reading thus : 

"From information furnished daily to me by the 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 267 

intelligence department, it became apparent that Gen- 
eral Cronje's force was becoming more depressed, and 
that the discontent of the troops and the discord among 
the leaders was rapidly increasing. 

"This feeling was, doubtless, accentuated by the dis- 
appointment caused when the Boer reinforcements, 
which tried to relieve General Cronje, were defeated 
by our troops on February 23d. 

" I resolved, therefore, to bring pressure to bear on 
the enemy. Each night the trenches were pushed for- 
ward toward the enemy's laager, so as to gradually 
contract his position, and at the same time I bombarded 
it heavily with artillery, which was yesterday mate- 
rially aided by the arrival of four 6-inch howitzers, 
which I had ordered up from Dewar. 

" In carrying out these measures a captive balloon 
gave great assistance by keeping us informed of the 
disposition and movements of the enemy. 

"At 3 A.M. to-day a most dashing advance was 
made by the Canadian regiment and some engineers, 
supported by the First Gordon Highlanders and 2d 
Shropshires, resulting in our gaining a point some six 
hundred yards nearer the enemy, and within about 
eighty yards of his trenches, where our men entrenched 
themselves and maintained their positions till morning, 
— a gallant deed worthy of our colonial comrades, and 
which, I am glad to say, was attended by comparatively 
slight loss. 

"This apparently clinched matters, for by daylight 



268 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

to-day a letter signed by General Cronje, in which he 
stated that he surrendered unconditionally, was brought 
to our outposts under a flag of truce. 

" In my reply I told General Cronje he must present 
himself to my camp, and that his force must come out 
of their laager after laying down their arms. 

" By 7 A. M. I received General Cronje, and despatched 
a telegram to you announcing the fact. 

" In the course of conversation he asked for kind 
treatment at our hands, and also that his wife, grand- 
son, private secretary, adjutant, and servants might 
accompany him wherever he was sent. I reassured 
him, and told him his request would be complied with. 
I informed him that a general officer would be sent 
with him to Cape Town to ensure his being treated 
with proper respect en route. 

"He will start this evening under charge of Major- 
General Prettyman, who will hand him over to the 
general commanding at Cape Town. 

" The prisoners, who number about three thousand, 
will be formed into commandoes under our own officers. 
They will also leave here to-day, reaching the Modder 
River to-morrow, when they will be railed to Cape 
Town in detachments." 

A private letter from Paardeberg, on the day after 
the surrender, thus describes the scene in that camp : 

" All the Boer prisoners were paraded yesterday after- 
noon. They extended in a long, trailing line, like a 
serpent, across the plain, and, as far as possible, were 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 269 

arranged in commandoes. The Free Staters were kept 
separate from the Transvaalers. 

" The look upon the faces of the men, as they passed, 
made it impossible to arrive at any other conclusion 
than that they were all overjoyed at their release from 
the daily fire of shell and shot which they had been 
experiencing lately. Many did not even take the 
trouble to conceal their delight from the soldiers guard- 
ing them. They chatted freely with the British, dis- 
cussing the different battles in which they had fought. 

"All the prisoners have an intense admiration for the 
bravery and pluck of the Highlanders, and they freely 
confess that they are incapable of the dash, go, and 
pluck of the British. 

" Some of the sick prisoners have given a vivid descrip- 
tion of General Cronje's night march. It began in a 
panic, and terrible confusion prevailed throughout. The 
huge wagons crowded the narrow road, there was an 
utter lack of order, and desertions were numerous. 

"From them, also, were learned the details of the 
Boer commissariat. The Boer rations consisted of one 
pound and a half of fresh meat daily, and one pound 
and a half of coffee, three pounds of sugar, and five 
pounds of flour per man weekly. 

" Every man who was off duty visited the Boer laager 
yesterday, and the crowd of curious * Tommies ' spent 
the day in searching every nook and corner. After 
what might prove useful to the army had been secured, 
the soldiers were allowed to take whatever they liked. 



270 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The men carried off clothing, kettles, cups, and even 
umbrellas. 

"Among the Boer commanders who were taken pris- 
oners were Commandants J. Martin, R. West, and Vers- 
ter ; Field-Cornets J. Snyman, J. H. Vande, J. H. L, 
Bosman, W. L. Lemmer, and Badenhorst ; Adjutants 
J. S. Maree and J. A. Botha ; War Commissioner 
Arnolds, and Acting Field-Cornets P. V. Devilliers and 
G. J. Duplessis. 

" The biggest commandoes that surrendered were the 
Potchestroom, of seven hundred men, and the Bloem- 
fontein, of five hundred men. 

"A two hours' inspection of the Boer laager was an 
ordeal. It was marvelous how anyone could remain ten 
days there among decomposed horses and the entrails 
of cattle and sheep which were being roasted by the 
sun. 

" A correspondent tramped out on the veldt and saw 
some British soldiers removing the Boer sick on stretch- 
ers. He did not see a single wagon intact anywhere, 
and most of them were half burned. Meal and potatoes 
were scattered among old clothes, trunks, and cooking 
utensils. There were thousands of rounds of Mauser 
and Martini-Henry cartridges, but there was scarcely 
any artillery ammunition. Only four Krupp 12-pounders, 
one Maxim, and one Vickers-Maxim were found. 

" The position south of the river was protected with 
remarkable trenches that looked like split dumb-bells. 
They were banked with sand-bags waist high, and the 



PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CRONJE. 27 1 

ends were deep and overhanging. There were many- 
bags filled with flour, bread, and cartridges. Probably 
not more than three persons lived in each trench. The 
prisoners looked more like an irregular horde than 
soldiers. There are many gray-bearded men and boys 
among them. They appear to be well fed, but tired. 
They carry a rough roll like that used by farm servants 
in carrying their effects when they are changing situa- 
tions. General Cronje and about a dozen others alone 
look like men of position. Even the uniformed Orange 
Free State artillerists were ragged. All the prisoners 
accepted their position complacently. General Cronje 
sat silently smoking under the trees near headquarters, 
while the others were arranged in rows on the veldt, 
according to their commandoes." 

This decisive British victory was not followed by a 
collapse on the part of the Boers. It only resulted in 
the freeing of the Free State force, the removal of one 
of the most skilful commanders, and the return to their 
farms of weak-kneed among the Free Staters ; but in 
the Free State another series of actions had become 
necessary, while the march into the Transvaal was only 
made after very hard fighting and the loss of many 
lives. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

buller's fourth advance toward ladysmith. 

AFTER General Buller's third unsuccessful attempt 
to relieve Ladysmith, he gave his weary troops a 
much-needed rest, yet absolutely lost no valuable time 
in the task which had been set him. 

A fourth effort was to be made as soon as the arrange- 
ments could be perfected. He had decided that the 
next movement should be by a very direct route, re- 
gardless of the fact that, owing to the physical nature 
of the country, the difficulties in the path would be 
many and great. 

If he could gain possession of Mts. Hlangwana and 
Monte Christo, it would mean access to the Tugela 
below Colenso, and south of Nelthorpe, at the same time 
bringing the enemy's lines of communication with the 
north under the fire of the naval guns. 

The Boers had many trenches and forts along the 
lower slopes of Hlangwana and Monte Christo, and 
had mounted six small cannon, including a 9-centimetre 
Creusot gun. They had five camps, none of them large, 
south of the Tugela. One upon the nek behind Monte 
Christo contained fifteen hundred men. They also had 

272 



BULLERS FOURTH ADVANCE. 273 

six cannons, so disposed as to fire upon Hlangwana from 
north of the Tugela. 

At eight o'clock, on the morning of February 15th, 
General Buller advanced his entire army, except Hart's 
brigade, toward Mt. Hlangwana and Monte Christo. 

His first objective was to seize Hussar Hill, a spread- 
ing ridge under the western slopes of Monte Christo, 
and two miles south of Hlangwana, While the British 
camp was held, one force moved eastward, and Lyttle- 
ton's men marched north to clear the valleys, and the 
colonial cavalry scouted. Thorneycroft's mounted in- 
fantry galloped for Hussar Hill, which was taken after 
a feeble resistance. 

About nine o'clock, as the infantry approached Hus- 
sar Hill and Hlangwana, to relieve the troopers, and 
were going forward upon the front flank, the leading 
regiments were sniped by Boers, who had crept onward. 
These were driven back steadily, the British skirmishers 
being helped by the fire from field-batteries and howit- 
zers. 

At ten o'clock in the morning, the Boers commenced 
pitching shells from batteries hidden behind a screen of 
bushes and rocks. The English gunners replied, silenc- 
ing the enemy's artillery, which shifted about and 
opened at other points. Hussar Hill was thus brought 
under a cross-fire, but little damage was done. 

The British constructed a long trench to secure 
their possession of the hill, and placed a naval 12- 
pounder in a sand-bag battery upon it. 



2 74 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Heavy artillery firing was maintained at intervals by 
both sides throughout the i6th, when the British slowly 
pushed the advance, and their infantry occupied and 
entrenched new positions in front of Hussar Hill, with 
slight losses. 

By this movement General Buller's infantry was dis- 
posed along the line extending seven miles, to the small 
kopjes at the base of Monte Christo Hill. 

On the 17th, Cingolo Hill was carried, and the 
British had secured possession of the north of the 
range. 

Regarding his advance of the next three days. Gen- 
eral Buller reported, officially : 

" I moved around the enemy's flank. The Queen's, 
who had bivouacked on the northern slope of Cingolo, 
crossed the nek, and, supported by the rest of the 2d 
Brigade, under Hildyard, assaulted and took the south- 
ern end of Monte Christo. 

"The 4th Brigade, on the left or western slope, 
and the Welsh Fusiliers, supported by the rest of the 
6th Brigade, assaulted the eastern flank of the enemy's 
position, while the 2d Brigade cavalry, on the extreme 
right, watched the eastern slopes of Monte Christo, 
and drove back those of the enemy attempting to 
escape there from our artillery fire. 

" Assaulted by heavy artillery fire on their front and 
flank, and attacked on their flank and rear, the enemy 
made but slight resistance, and, abandoning their strong 
position, were driven across the Tugela. 



BULLERS FOURTH ADVANCE. 275 

" I have taken several camps, a wagon-load of ammu- 
nition, several wagons of stores and supplies, and a few 
prisoners. 

" The weather has been intensely hot, and the ground 
traversed was exceedingly difhcult, but the energy and 
dash of the troops have been very pleasant to see. 
They have all done splendidly. The work of the 
irregular cavalry, the Queen's and the Scots Fusiliers, 
and the Rifle Brigade, was, perhaps, most noticeable, 
while the excellent practice of the artillery and naval 
guns, and the steadiness of the gunners under, at 
times, very accurate fire, was remarkable. The precise 
fire of the naval guns from Chieveley was of great 
assistance." 

" Blow's farm, Tuesday, February 20-24, 10 p- m. — 
The Fusiher Brigade yesterday took Hlangwana Hill, 
the right of the enemy's position, and commanding 
Colenso, the rest of the force advancing toward the 
Tugela. 

"This morning the enemy had withdrawn all the 
troops south of the Tugela, and had practically evac- 
uated Colenso. 

"To-day General Hart occupied Colenso, after a very 
slight resistance by a weak rear-guard, and we hold the 
line of the Tugela, on the south side, from Colenso to 
Eagle's Nest. 

"The enemy seem to be in full retreat, and ap- 
parently are only holding the position they occupy 



276 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

across the Colenso-Ladysmith railway, where it is close 
to the angle of the Tugela, with a weak rear-guard. 
" Hart's advanced guard is crossing at Colenso." 

"February 21, 1900, 4.27 p.m. — The Fifth Divi- 
sion crossed the Tugela to-day by pontoon, and drove 
back the enemy's rear-guard, our naval 12-pounder 
silencing all of the enemy's guns." 

A correspondent of the Lojidoji Mail thus describes 
the difificulties in General Buller's way, and gives a 
graphic picture of the work done after the Tugela had 
been crossed : 

"The stupendous nature of the task was only 
understood when, being on the spot, one was able 
to realise what it means to hurl infantry at posi- 
tions lined in every direction with carefully prepared 
trenches, and with breastworks defended by practi- 
cally invisible riflemen, armed with the most deadly 
rapid-firing weapons, and aided by quick-firing guns, 
which put all but our cannon of the largest calibre 
into the shade. 

" As it would have been madness to seek an outlet 
from the amphitheatre of hills by way of Grobler's 
kloof, on the left, a route had to be found on the right ; 
and at 2 p. m., Friday, amid the incessant cracking of 
rifle fire and the roar of cannon, the Irish brigade was 
despatched along the river to take Railway Hill on the 
other side of Pieter's station. 



BULLERS FOURTH ADVANCE. 277 

" This hill is commanding enough to ensure our 
final advance, providing we could hold it securely and 
could mount cannon on it. From Onderbrook Spruit 
railway bridge the track runs along the Tugela, and it 
was perilously open to the Boer marksmen disposed on 
the kopjes back from the river ; therefore, after passing 
Pieter's station, many men would be bound to be hit. 

" Beyond the station the line passes over another 
small bridge, crossing a deep donga, and it was in the 
approach to this bridge, and onward to the base of Rail- 
way Hill, that the greatest danger from enforced expo- 
sure obtained. It was necessary to cross by the bridge 
at the mouth of the donga, which, beside being diffi- 
cult of access, ran into the Tugela. The path between 
the railway and the river was almost always in full 
view of the enemy. 

"Every man of the Irish brigade had, therefore, to 
run the gauntlet of Boer marksmen, and numbers 
dropped on the bridge, where the Boer bullets fell 
dangerously thick, until the bridge was sandbagged, 
and only one man allowed on it at a time. 

" Very soon fifty men were put out of action in the 
race from the bridge to the rendezvous, and several 
members of the volunteer ambulance corps were 
wounded in following the troops. 

"Yesterday the Boer retreat continued. A party 
of about seventy, en route from the north, drew rein 
near Limit Hill. A battery of 15-pounders, placed not 
far off, suddenly opened fire, and practically annihilated 



278 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the party. A Boer ambulance was later on seen col- 
lecting the dead and wounded, 

"The Boers are trying to form a bridge or ford 
across Klip River, south of Umbulwana, evidently for 
the purpose of permitting the passage of wagons and 
artillery in their retirement from Colenso. Our guns 
are preventing this work being carried on." 

General Buller's oflficial report, dated February 28th, 
thus tersely describes the work done the 27th, the 
anniversary of that disaster at Majuba Hill: 

" Finding that the passage of Langewechts Spruit 
was commanded by some strong entrenchments, I 
reconnoitred for another passage on the Tugela. 
One was found for me below the cataract by Colonel 
Sandbach, Royal Engineers, on February 25th. 

"We commenced making an approach thereto, and, 
on February 26th, finding that I could make the 
passage practicable, I crossed the guns and baggage 
back to the south side of the Tugela, took up the 
pontoon bridge on Monday night, and relaid it at 
the new site. 

" During all this time the troops had been scattered, 
crouching under hastily constructed small stone shelters 
and exposed to a galling shell and rifle fire, and through- 
out they maintained the most excellent spirits. 
. " Tuesday, General Barton, with two battalions of the 
6th Brigade and the Dublin Fusiliers, crept about a 
mile and a half down the banks of the river and 
ascended a very steep cliff — almost a precipice — of 



BULLER S FOURTH ADVANCE. 279 

about five hundred feet, assaulted and carried the top 
of Pieter's Hill. 

"This hill, to a certain extent, turned the enemy's 
left, and the 4th Brigade, under Colonel Norcott, and 
the nth Brigade, Colonel Kitchener commanding, — 
the whole under command of General Warren, — as- 
saulted the enemy's position, which was magnificently 
carried by the South Lancashire regiment about sunset. 

" We took sixty prisoners and scattered the enemy in 
all directions. 

" There seems to be still a considerable body of them 
left on and under Bulwana Mountain. 

" Our losses, I hope, are not large. They certainly 
are much less than they would have been were it not 
for the admirable manner in which the artillery was 
served, especially the guns manned by the royal naval 
force and the Natal naval volunteers." 

An American who witnessed the storming of the hill 
gives the following picture of the action : 

" Since Friday's attack the whole face of the position 
has been shelled at intervals, but from early this morn- 
ing the trenches directly opposite the British front and 
the nek separating Pieter's Hill from another hill were 
simply strewn with lyddite-shells and shrapnel. It ap- 
pears marvellous that anything human could live on 
the hill. 

"At three o'clock this afternoon the batteries fired 
salvos, and all the heavy ordnance was in constant 
action. 



28o FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" General Barton led his command to the extreme 
right; Colonel Kitchener, who had taken Wynne's com- 
mand, formed the centre. The brigade under Colonel 
Northcote attacked Railway Hill. The infantry on the 
right advanced over the hill, forcing the Boers into 
the nek, while Colonel Kitchener led his men over 
Railway Hill, meeting little opposition. 

" The Boers remained in the trenches, from which a 
terrible cross-fire was sent during Friday's fight. 

"A few of them escaped to the next trench, and 
hoisted a white flag, which they waved vigorously. 
Some prisoners were taken. The infantry cheered 
and charged, taking Pieter's Hill with fixed bayonets. 
Here they were met with a heavy musketry fire. 

"The British now command the direct road to 
Lady smith." 



CHAPTER XXV. 



LADYSMITH. 



LADYSMITH, previous to the breaking out of the 
war in South Africa, was the military headquarters 
of the British colony of Natal, and was quite generally 
called the "Aldershot of South Africa." It is a town 
of about forty-five hundred inhabitants, 189 miles by 
rail from Durban, the principal seaport of the colony, 
and is 322 miles from Pretoria, the capital of the South 
African Republic. 

The town is not well suited for defence, for it lies 
in a plain, several miles wide, through which flows the 
Klip River. On one side was the military camp and a 
large exercise plain. Low hills surround the town, and 
beyond them lie higher hills, or kops, which command 
the whole section of the country for miles. The Boers 
occupied these high hills, mounting on them some of 
the biggest guns manufactured, notably the now famous 
"long-tom," and consequently it was comparatively easy 
for them to hold the town in siege. 

General Sir George Stewart White, V. C., who has 
been in command in Ladysmith, was for years com- 
mander-in-chief of the British forces in India, and is 

281 



252 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

recognised as one of the best and bravest leaders in 
the British army. He was sent to Natal last June, at 
the time of the famous "conferences" engineered by- 
Joseph Chamberlain between Sir Alfred Milner, the 
British high commissioner of South Africa, and Presi- 
dent Kruger, and took command of the troops that had 
been steadily poured into South Africa from England 
and from India. 

When, on October loth, President Kruger sent his 
ultimatum to Great Britain, calling for the removal of 
the troops threatening the borders of the Republic, Sir 
George White had small garrisons scattered up the nek 
of Natal as far as Newcastle. 

Arrangements had been made to send troops to 
Laing's Nek, the pass through which the railroad 
enters Natal. These garrisons he was obliged to re- 
call as soon as the Boer invasion began, October 12th. 
They were weak and isolated. 

He left a strong garrison of four thousand men under 
General Symons at Glencoe and Dundee, where there 
was a large store of military supplies. He himself 
wished to withdraw the force to a junction with his 
own at Ladysmith, and then fall back to the Tugela 
River for defence ; but the governor of Natal, Sir 
W. F. Hely-Hutchinson, urged that, for political rea- 
sons, the towns be not deserted, and Sir George yielded, 
with disastrous results. 

The Boer commandoes invaded Natal October 1 2th ; 
on the 14th, they occupied deserted Newcastle; on the 



LADYSMITH. 283 

1 8th, their advance-guard engaged White's cavalry out- 
posts near Glencoe, and on the 20th they were before 
Glencoe with a large force. 

General Symons attacked them. Before repeated 
desperate charges the Boers fell back, with a loss that 
the British estimated at five hundred killed and wounded, 
although the Boer estimate was remarkably small ; while 
the British loss was thirty-six killed, 191 wounded, and 
208 captured, being a squadron of the i8th Hussars, 
which had pursued recklessly, only to fall into the first 
of the " Boer traps." 

General Symons was mortally wounded. The Boer 
advance was not checked. They came on and began 
to shell Dundee, to which the British had retired. 

The situation was desperate. The railroad to Lady- 
smith had been cut. General Yule, who succeeded to 
the command, had to abandon the town with the stores 
and all his wounded, and retreat by a devious route to 
Ladysmith. He left by night, October 23d, and, after 
a terrible march, reached General White's outposts on 
the 26th. 

The Boers had anticipated this retreat, and a column 
of eight hundred men sent to block his way was met at 
Elandslaagte by General French, of White's force, and 
defeated. 

Two days later, on the 24th, Sir George White made 
a reconnoissance in force, and found plenty of Boers to 
the north. The engagement of Reitfontein followed, 
where the British lost twelve killed and 104 wounded. 



284 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Again White made a " reconnoissance in force," in- 
tending really to crush the advancing Boers, who were 
closing around him. This was on October 30th. The 
result was a severe defeat, and the disaster, of Nichol- 
son's Nek, where a battalion of the Royal Irish Fusi- 
liers, a battalion of the Gloucestershires, and the loth 
Mountain Battery, after losing heavily, were taken 
prisoners. The British loss was sixty-one killed, 241 
wounded, and about eight hundred captured. 

The town was isolated November 2d, when parties 
of Boers effectually cut the railway on the north side 
of the Tugela River. General French, who had been 
in command at Elandslaagte, was the last to leave the 
place by train, and luckily ran the gauntlet without 
mishap. 

As the Boers proceeded to establish their laagers at 
different points behind the hills which encircled the 
town. General White and his garrison settled down to 
the defence with the strongest confidence that they 
could hold the position against assault until relief came. 
All told, the fighting force of the British scarcely num- 
bered ten thousand effectives. These were distributed 
in camps outside the town, and it was necessary to 
guard an area having a circumference of twelve miles. 
Heavy guns were placed in position, and the daily shell- 
ing of Ladysmith commenced. The civilian population 
became alarmed after the first bombardment, and Gen- 
eral Joubert, commander-in-chief of the Boers, allowed 
them to make a camp of safety about four miles from 



LADYSMITH. 285 

the town, under Mount Bulwana. The sick and wounded, 
later on, were removed to this retreat and cared for. 
Many non-combatants, however, decided to remain in 
the town, and " underground galleries " were constructed 
all about the place, into which men, women, and chil- 
dren hurried and huddled when the big shells came fly- 
ing through the air thick and fast. 

The town had been well provisioned, and mihtary 
stores of all kinds had long been accumulating. Gen- 
eral White's force, roughly speaking, was eleven thou- 
sand men when the war broke out, and he had thirty-six 
guns. 

Surrounding General White, and facing General 
Buller's relief column along the Tugela River, were, 
it is estimated by the British, twenty-five thousand 
Boers, commanded by General Joubert. 

On November 3d, shells began to drop into the 
town. To the surprise of the British, the Boers 
mounted big guns, with which the best naval guns, 
brought up fortunately in the nick of time, alone could 
cope. But the supply of shells for these was limited, 
and a series of cavalry engagements was resorted to by 
the defenders to permit, as far as possible, a close ap- 
proach of the Boers. On their side, the Boers were 
elated by their success, and it does not appear that 
they at all anticipated a long check before the town. 

After a few weeks, however, many got accustomed 
to the bombardment, it becoming a "hollow terror," as 
correspondent George W. Steevens described it in a let- 



286 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

ter written shortly before his death from fever in the be- 
leaguered city. People would hear the boom of " long- 
tom " away off on Mount Bulwana, and then watch the 
huge shell sail slowly toward the town ; even wait for 
it to burst, if it was not coming too near them, in which 
case they made a rush for their caves. 

November 6th the monotony of the siege was varied 
by a cavalry action at Dewdrop. 

The first serious attack was made on November 9th. 
Riding down into the plain, the Burghers attacked the 
garrison at various points, only to meet with a disas- 
trous repulse. Their losses were estimated at eight 
hundred, but, whether they amounted to this number 
or not, the effect of the reverse was to reduce them to 
a state of inactivity for three weeks. During this time 
they could be seen in large numbers all around. Their 
patrols were active, and their investment was strict. 

By December 7th the total casualties had reached 
five officers and twenty-six men killed, and fifteen offi- 
cers and 130 men wounded. 

On the night of December 8th a daring party, under 
the command of General Sir Archibald Hunter, went 
out of Ladysmith, and wrecked one of the Boers' big 
guns with guncotton. They took the small guard by 
surprise, and returned with a loss of about forty in 
killed and wounded. 

A force under Lieutenant-Colonel Metcalfe made a 
less successful sortie on the night of December nth. 
The object of the sally was to destroy the howitzer 



LADYSMITH. 287 

which had the range of the town to an annoying exact- 
ness. The destruction of the big gun was accomplished, 
but the Boers were not surprised at this time. They 
attacked the British party, killed and wounded many, 
and captured quite a number of prisoners. 

Next came General Buller's first attack to relieve 
the besieged town. This was on December 15th, when 
he tried to cross the Tugela River to Colenso. A great 
battle was fought, in which both sides displayed the 
utmost gallantry. The British were finally driven back, 
with very serious loss, their casualties being 145 killed, 
752 wounded, and 224 missing. Buller also lost eleven 
guns, despite the brave attempt of volunteers to recover 
them. Lord Roberts's son was one of the volunteers, 
and he was shot dead beside the guns. 

A private letter sent out from Ladysmith, December 
19th, gives a striking picture of the besieged town : 

" It is impossible to express the feeling of consterna- 
tion with which the news of General Buller's check on 
the Tugela was received in the invested town. All had 
made up their minds that the period of enforced inac- 
tivity was at an end. We were proud to think that we 
should be able to meet the relieving troops with the 
little histories of our own regarding the Gun and Sur- 
prise Hill batteries. No one for a moment imagined 
that the southern force would be anything but suc- 
cessful. 

"On December 12th, heavy firing had been heard in 
the direction of Colenso, while on the following day the 



288 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

pickets on Caesar's camp and Wagon Hill had seen 
the smoke made by the bursting shrapnel. 

" Then we waited for news, — waited breathlessly for 
orders to be given to the flying column, composed of 
the Devonshire and Lancashire regiments and the Gor- 
don Highlanders, to leave camp to complete the devasta- 
tion which the south force had begun. Men and women 
congratulated themselves in the streets when they heard 
that one of our heavy guns had been sent to Wagon 
Hill to cover the movement of the flying column. But 
the silence was prolonged, though the helio winked 
ceaselessly from the hilltops ; but rumour had its way, 
and stories were told of a splendid victory, of deserting 
Boers, of fleeing Dutch, and slaughtered Burghers. 

" But nothing from headquarters. December i6th was 
Dingaans Day, the anniversary of the declaration of inde- 
pendence of the South African Republic by the trium- 
virate in 1880. It was thought that this would be a 
suitable day for us to crush the power of the rebel state. 
Day dawned, and with the advent of the sun the big gun 
on Bulwana opened a spiteful fire. Twenty-one rounds 
were fired into the town. The Boers had remembered 
the salute which we had fired on the Prince of Wales's 
birthday. Grimly on Dingaan's Day they returned the 
salute. And with effect, for there were three fatal 
casualties from the fire. Still the town congratulated 
itself. This salute was but the song of the dying swan. 
In a fit of bravado the enemy had fired into us before 
removing the gun to escape the advance from the south. 



LADYSMITH. 289 

" A story came in from Intombi camp that the Boers 
had sent a number of wounded Dutch for treatment. 
Excitement ran high, and a speculative photographer 
erected a notice that, now the siege was practically at 
an end, he would be happy to make a mass group of 
the civilians who had survived. 

" But on Saturday night the sinister order appeared. 
The batteries attached to the flying column were sent 
back to their positions on the line of defences. On the 
morrow the following general order was published to 
the garrison : 

" * The general officer commanding the Natal field 
force regrets to have to announce that General Sir Red- 
vers Buller failed to make good his first attack on Co- 
lenso ; reinforcements will not, therefore, arrive here as 
early as was expected. Sir George White is confident 
that the defence of Lady smith will be continued by the 
garrison in the same spirited manner as it has hitherto 
been conducted, until the general officer commanding- 
in-chief in South Africa does relieve it.' 

"These are real and trying discomforts, but more 
oppressive than all the hardships we endure is the 
dreadful monotony of the siege. We have ceased to 
take any interest in shells, and even the most timid no 
longer walk up the street to see the damage done by 
one of long-tom's best efforts. The opportunities for 
active exercise are restricted, and a gallop on horseback 
is possible only under shrapnel or common shell. 

"There might appear to be one resource left, and that 



290 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

is to sleep the time peacefully away. Even this conso- 
lation is denied, for Ladysmith is afflicted with a plague 
of flies more terrible than any that oppressed the Egyp- 
tians. They descend upon us in clouds, — noisy, vora- 
cious, stinging pests, attacking every exposed part of 
the body with ceaseless energy, boldness, and unflinch- 
ing determination. Every dish on the table is black 
with these torments, so that it is often literally im- 
possible to see the food or to carry it to the mouth 
without the risk of swallowing scores of the poisonous 
insects." 

On the 19th, General White stated that he had pro- 
visions sufficient for two months. The weather was 
intensely hot on the 20th, and many cases of enteric 
fever. December 20th, the Boers mounted another 
howitzer on Surprise Hill. 

Before Christmas Day the list of casualties had grown 
to seventy killed and 236 wounded. But a more dreaded 
enemy, enteric fever, was beginning to make havoc, ow- 
ing to the confinement, and the contamination of water. 

In spite of the havoc caused by disease and death, 
Christmas was celebrated with merriment. Women and 
children came out of their underground dwelling-places. 
The soldiers had plum pudding and cigars, and the 
queen's message, flashed by the heliograph, was re- 
ceived with enthusiasm. The weather was intensely 
hot, but the garrison amused itself with polo, football, 
evening entertainments, and siege newspapers. 

The general in command was himself struck down by 



LADYSMITH. 29 1 

fever, but had recovered by the time the garrison was 
put to the supreme test, on Saturday, January 6th. At 
dawn on that day the investing forces drew together for 
a mighty effort. The battle raged on every side, though 
the chief and most determined assault was made on 
Caesar's camp, which lay to the south, protecting the 
general camp. For seventeen hours there was des- 
perate fighting. Thrice was one position captured by 
the Boers and thrice retaken. At dusk the Devons 
remained the masters of an entrenchment held all day 
by the enemy. The British loss in the engagement 
amounted to over 320, including thirteen officers killed 
and twenty-seven wounded. 

Then came Buller's attempt to turn the Boers' 
right flank, ending with his defeat at Spion Kop, on 
January 24th, 

Buller's third attempt at relief was made by crossing 
the Tugela at Potgieter's drift and seizing Vaal Krantz, 
from which position he was forced back across the 
river on February 8th. 

Buller began his fourth attempt to succour White on 
February 14th, bombarding and taking the Boer posi- 
tions south of the Tugela, and pushing the Burghers 
back over the river at Colenso. 

During the first three moves by Buller, the worn and 
wasted men of the Ladysmith garrison heard the boom 
of the guns of the relief column, and their hopes ran 
high, only to be dashed by the absolute failure of the 
attempts. 



292 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The town was besieged 1 1 8 days, and then, February 
27th, the advance of Buller's force, under Lord Dun- 
donald, entered the town. 

At noon, on Tuesday, the 27th, the firing of General 
Buller's army seemed to recede instead of to approach, 
and the garrison was consequently depressed. Every- 
body was startled to hear the garrison's 4.7-gun fir- 
ing. It had not been used much of late, owing to the 
diminishing ammunition. 

On hurrying out, it was found that the Boers were 
trying to remove the big gun on Bulwana Hill by the 
erection of a derrick. This proved that something ex- 
traordinary was happening. The other garrison guns 
then directed their fire on Bulwana, with the result that 
the Boers were compelled to abandon the attempt with 
the derrick. Later they placed the gun on a wagon, 
which capsised on a donga. 

During the afternoon, whenever the Boers were seen 
approaching, the British resumed the shelling of Bul- 
wana. About four o'clock a terrific thunder-storm 
broke over the town, just after a message had been 
heliographed from Wagon Hill that the Boers were in 
full retreat. 

Other officers said they believed they could descry 
British cavalry ; but most people supposed that the 
wish was father to the thought. 

As soon as the storm ceased, the British guns re- 
opened on Bulwana, gradually concentrating the fire on 
the left and driving the Boers before them, with the 




RELIEF OF LADYSMITH. THE ADVANCE GUARD ENTERING THE 

TOWN. 



LADYSMITH. 293 

object of preventing the enemy from hampering any 
British approach. 

An hour later, a party of British horsemen could be 
seen crossing the flat below Bulwana, some miles dis- 
tant. It is impossible to describe the excitement and 
enthusiasm among the troops that followed. Most of 
the townspeople had been driven into the house by the 
storm, and did not learn the good news until later. 

The storm broke out again at seven o'clock in the 
evening and continued until two the next morning. It 
must have seriously hampered the retreating Boers. 
The British gunners kept a sharp watch to prevent any 
further attempt to remove the Bulwana gun. 

The British naval gun fired at intervals through the 
night, and in the morning a force was sent out to look 
after the gun and to occupy Bulwana. Lord Dundon- 
ald's force set off after the retreating Boers, while four 
thousand of the best men of the garrison went toward 
Elandslaagte in the hope of being able to intercept the 
enemy. 

The Boers give the following account of the relief of 
the long-besieged town : 

" The siege of Lady smith has been raised, and the 
Federal troops have fallen back on the Biggarsberg 
mountain chain south of Dundee. The retreat was 
due to a mistake, a certain commandant ordering his 
men to fall back from their position without any reason 
for such a move, and also to bad news from Modder 
River. 



294 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" On Wednesday, it was resolved to send the wagons 
back to Biggarsberg immediately. Soon long strings of 
wagons were wending along the different roads. A 
large number of tents that were captured from the 
British at Dundee were abandoned. 

"The chief difficulty lay in dismounting the *long- 
toms ' from their various positions. When cranes for 
lowering them were erected, the naval guns in Lady- 
smith opened a heavy fire. Two artillerists were 
wounded slightly. Through a misunderstanding, some 
ammunition was left behind, the transport arrangements 
having failed. 

" Meanwhile General Buller's forces sat still, clearly 
not intending to move ahead until their cannon were 
ready to cover them. On Thursday, the relieving force 
advanced, and the Federal troops fell back north of the 
Klip River ; Ladysmith now developed activity and 
bombarded the position of the Pretoria commando, on 
which an attack was subsequently delivered. General 
Erasmus drove the British back. Then an attack was 
made on the Free Staters, with a similar result. 

" On Thursday night. Commandant Botha took up a 
position in the hills northeast of Ladysmith. One of 
his patrols, consisting of the Bethel Burghers, surprised 
some British cavalry, shooting some of them and captur- 
ing a number of horses. Meanwhile the ground behind 
had been cleared. The Boers were independent of the 
railway, as was shown by the fact that, of two thousand 
wagons, not one went by rail. All travelled the road, 



LADYSMITH. 295 

together with the field-batteries. Only the heavy guns 
and the infantry wounded were allowed to go by rail. 

" When the last of the trains had left Elandslaagte, a 
workman's train followed and blew up every bridge and 
culvert between Ladysmith and Glencoe, after blowing 
up and setting fire to the Elandslaagte collieries. Thus 
the British, with Natal' s southernmost collieries in their 
hands, would be unable to draw supplies from them. 

" A small quantity of stores left at Elandslaagte was 
also set on fire under cover of the night, and with the 
collieries sending up lurid flame to the heavens,, the 
bullock- wagons wound over the hills, making roads 
where none had before existed, and the siege of Lady- 
smith was raised, after it had lasted four months. 

" As for the present week's casualties, definite figures 
cannot yet be given, owing to the disorganisation of the 
ambulance corps and the circumstances of the retreat. 
It is said that fifteen Burghers were killed, and twenty- 
five wounded. A lieutenant of artillery was wounded 
in the head." 

March ist, the queen sent the following despatches, 
the first to General Buller : 

" I thank God for the news you have telegraphed me, and I 
congratulate you and all under you with all my heart." 

And the second to General White : 

" I thank God that you and all those with you are safe, after 
your long, trying siege, borne with such heroism. I congratu- 
late you, and all under you from the bottom of my heart. I trust 
you are all not very much exhausted." 



296 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

General White replied : 

" Your Majesty's most gracious message has been received by 
me with the deepest gratitude, and with enthusiasm by the troops. 
Any hardships and privations are an hundred times compensated 
for by the sympathy and appreciation of our queen, and your 
Majesty's message will do more to restore both officers and men 
than anything else." 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE WORK IN MARCH. 

THE success which had attended his plans during 
the latter portion of February did not tend to 
render Lord Roberts careless or reckless. Until the 
7th of March he gave his troops a rest, and then moved 
again toward the east. 

On the 9th of March, the Boers were routed out of 
an untenable position at Poplar Grove. They knew 
they were outflanked, and beat a hasty retreat, aban- 
doning dinners already cooked over the camp-fires. 

Lord Roberts had reached a point nearly seventy 
miles from his advanced base at the Modder River 
station. The work of transporting the long trains of 
supplies across the intervening veldt was prodigious, 
and it was necessary a considerable force be employed 
to defend his lines of communication. As was proven, 
however, there was no body of Boers in position to 
seriously menace his connections with the base. 

An engagement, with considerable loss on both sides, 
occurred at Driefontein, March loth. 

That night Lord Roberts encamped at Driefontein. 
On the following day he marched to Aasvogel Kop, 

297 



298 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

and on the next to Venters Vlei, about eighteen miles 
from Bloemfontein, Meanwhile the cavalry division 
had been pushed forward more rapidly, and was on the 
railway, six miles south of the Orange Free State capi- 
tal. Ten men of the Royal Engineers took their lives 
in their hand, and, passing through the positions of the 
enemy to the north of the city, cut the telegraph lines. 

The British scouts approached the capital on the 
morning of March 13th, whereupon certain officials of 
the Free State came out to Lord Roberts and for- 
mally surrendered the town, presenting at the same 
time the keys of the public offices. 

The English commander-in-chief had spent less than 
a month in moving his army across the hundred miles of 
railroadless veldt which lay between his base at Mod- 
der River station and President Steyn's headquarters, 
including the stops on the way to ensnare Cronje, and 
to beat off the re-formed Boer forces at Driefontein. 

His soldiers were worn out with marching and fight- 
ing, and he had left his track strewn with the carcasses 
of dead horses. 

Lord Roberts allowed his men to rest while he 
opened railroad lines of communication directly south 
of Cape Town. He shifted his base from the Modder 
to the Orange River, a move which is regarded by mili- 
tary men as a triumph in the art of war of a critical 
character. 

The South Africa winter was commencing, and it 
was necessary preparations be made to efface the 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 299 

effect of the early frost upon the animals already 
seriously affected by horse sickness. The troops 
needed warm clothing, new boots, and many articles 
that had been worn out or were not required in the 
summer. 

It was impossible to move again until the temper of 
the inhabitants had been tested, and dispositions made 
for the protection of the new steam lines of transpor- 
tation. 

On March 25 th and 26th, the troops were moved up 
from Bloemfontein, rather as a measure of precaution 
than as specific indication of an advance. 

The Boers, to cover the retirement of their forces 
from the south, had developed an aggressive spirit in 
the immediate front, occupying certain kopjes near 
Karee Siding station, a few miles south of Brandfort. 

On March 30th, the Seventh Division successively 
attacked and captured the kopjes, the enemy retreating 
to Brandfort, their advanced post for covering their 
operations on the railway at Winburg, and north to their 
headquarters at Kroonstadt. 

The commander-in-chief's army had grown much 
greater than it was when he invaded the Free State, on 
February 12th, with eleven thousand mounted men, 
twenty-three thousand infantry, and ninety-eight guns 
of all kinds. He had added the Guards Brigade and 
the brigade of General Clements, with large reinforce- 
ments of Imperial Yeomanry and colonial and other 
troops. 



300 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

His force was now constituted of a cavalry division 
of four brigades, five infantry divisions, eight batteries 
of horse-artillery, about twenty field-batteries, and a 
siege train, exclusive of the soldiers in the southern 
portions of the Free State. 

In order to give the movements of all the British 
troops during the month of March, it seems best to set 
down the several facts in regular order, as they appeared 
in the newspapers of Cape Town. 

March i. General Buller telegraphs from Nelthorpe 
to-day: "I have just returned from Ladysmith. Except 
a small guard, north of Surprise Hill, the whole of the 
enemy lately besieging the town have retired in hot 
haste, and to the south of the town the country is quite 
clear of them. The garrison were on half a pound of 
meat per man a day, and were supplementing the meat 
ration by horses and mules. The men will want a 
little nursing before being fit for the fields. General 
Dundonald, with the Natal Carbineers, and a composite 
regiment, entered Ladysmith last night." 

General Kitchener has gone to Arundel. 

The Boers of northern Cape Colony are in full retreat. 
Many Dutch rebels in Colesberg have been arrested. 

The following despatch is just received from Lady- 
smith : 

" Surrounded by cheering soldiers, townspeople, and 
coolies, celebrating the relief of the town, Sir George 
White, at the post-office, addressed the throng. He 
said : 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 3OI 

" ' People of Ladysmith, I thank you for the heroic 
and patient manner in which you assisted me during 
the siege. It hurt me terribly to cut down the rations, 
but, thank God, we kept the flag flying.' 

"Then, profoundly moved, General White led the 
assembly in singing ' God Save the Queen.' " 

The once dashing cavalry brigade has practically 
ceased to exist. At the beginning of the year there 
were fifty-five hundred horses and forty-five hundred 
mules. Before the end of January only eleven hun- 
dred horses could be fed. The others had either been 
converted into joints, soups, and sausage, or had been 
left to forage for themselves. These poor emaciated 
animals, mere phantoms, were among the most painful 
sights of the siege. Had the British possessed an 
unlimited amount of heavy guns and ammunition, they 
might have made the position more bearable, although 
not a shot was fired except from dire necessity. There 
were, on February ist, only forty rounds left for each 
naval gun, while the supply for the field-artillery would 
have been exhausted in a couple of minor engagements. 
Fortunately the Boers were ignorant of the true state 
of affairs. Had they known the real weakness, they 
might have displayed greater daring, with results which 
— now that the town is safe — one can venture to con- 
template. The defenders were victorious solely because 
of masterly inactivity. 

March 2. General Cronje and his party of prisoners 
that were taken at Paardeberg arrived at Simonstown 



302 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

to-day. General Cronje was received by General Sir 
Frederick Forestier - Walker and a representative of 
Sir Alfred Milner, the governor of Cape Colony. Gen- 
eral Cronje was immediately escorted on board the 
British second-class cruiser Doris. There was no 
demonstration. 

The Boers are reported as massing in the Orange 
Free State to oppose the advance of Lord Roberts. 

A despatch from Osfontein of this date is as follows : 

" The British camp has been moved here. A heavy 
rain is falling, the veldt is improving, supplies are rap- 
idly arriving, and the men are in good health, despite the 
fact that they have been on half rations for a fortnight. 

" Lord Roberts has published an order thanking the 
troops for their courage and for the zeal and endurance 
they have displayed amid the hardships of the forced 
march. He says that their fortitude and general 
conduct have been worthy the queen's soldiers. 

" A slight skirmish occurred six miles southeast, in 
which Colonel Remington had a horse shot under him. 
The Boer forces on our front are believed to be under 
the joint command of Botha, Delarey, and De Wet. 
They are expecting reinforcements from Natal.] 

" The guns that were captured at Paardeberg have 
been brought here. The rifles captured have, in many 
cases, scriptural texts engraved upon them, for example, 
' Lord, strengthen this arm.' It is said that just prior 
to General Cronje's surrender there was almost a mutiny 
in the camp." 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 303 

The total casualties in Ladysmith since the invest- 
ment amount to : killed, or died of wounds, twenty-four 
officers and 235 men; died of disease, six officers and 
340 men ; wounded, seventy officers and 520 men, ex- 
clusive of civilians and natives. 

March 5. The Boers have evacuated Stormberg, 
and the town is occupied by General Gatacre's forces. 
The lines of railway north and west will now be re- 
paired. General Clements is at Joubert's Siding sta- 
tion, beyond Colesberg. 

General Buller reports Natal as practically clear of 
the enemy, and that he cannot hear of any formed body 
of them anywhere. The Boers left some ambulances 
full of their sick and wounded, from which the mules 
had been taken for transport purposes. 

General Brabant has captured a fort near Dordrecht. 
The Boers succeeded in making good their retreat with 
guns and wagons. 

Presidents Kruger and Steyn have sent proposals for 
peace to Great Britain. 

The Duke of Marlborough, with the Oxford company 
of the Imperial Yeomanry, has just started for Naauw- 
poort. He left Cape Town at 10 a. m. 

Maixh 6. General Buller has sent a force toward 
Van Reenan's Pass in pursuit of the enemy. He 
reports his total losses of killed, wounded, and cap- 
tured, in his final move to the relief of Ladysmith, 
as 1,859. 

A flying column under Colonel Prendergast has 



304 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

entered the Transvaal through Zukiland, and captured 
a position. 

March j. A battle has been fought at Poplar Grove, 
the British troops gaining a decided advantage. Presi- 
dents Kruger and Steyn were both present during the 
engagement and endeavoured in vain to rally their 
troops. The British loss is reported as five officers 
and forty-nine men. (A detailed account of the battle 
of Poplar Grove is given elsewhere.) 

General Roberts's advance to-day has been from 
Osfontein to Poplar Drift, Modder River. The Boers 
are in full retreat. 

General Gatacre occupied Burghersdorp to-day, and 
was greeted with great enthusiasm on the part of the 
loyal inhabitants. His scouts report that large num- 
bers of the rebels in the neighbourhood are anxious to 
surrender. Burghersdorp is situated fifteen miles from 
Bethulie Bridge, Orange River. 

March 8. Lord Roberts telegraphed : " Clements 
has occupied Norval's Pont and the adjacent drift. As 
soon as the engineers, pontoon, and troops arrive he will 
cross the river, when the necessary repairs to the rail- 
way bridge will be commenced." 

The Boers retreated across the Orange River at 
Norval's Pont last night, and destroyed the big bridge 
after making the passage. The enemy is now encamped 
in force on the northern bank of the river. 

A British force has been sent toward Bloemfontein 
in pursuit of De Wet's command. 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 305 

The military authorities have decided that General 
Cronje and the other Boer prisoners shall be sent 
immediately to the Island of St. Helena, there to re- 
main until the end of the war. Lord Roberts has 
chosen Lord Bathurst, colonel of a militia regiment at 
the front, to command the escort to St. Helena. It is 
also asserted that the cabinet has resolved neither to 
propose nor to entertain proposals at the present 
juncture for an exchange of prisoners. 

March p. General Gatacre has sent a force to James- 
town, and another to Aliwal North. Cape Colony is now 
practically clear of Boers. 

March 10. Lord Roberts advanced to Driefontein 
this morning, and during the day has fought a battle. 
The Boers' rear-guard made desperate efforts to hold 
the British in check, and Lord Roberts's force has suf- 
fered severely. (See account of the battle elsewhere.) 

A despatch from Lobatsi reports that Commandant 
Eloff, with a commando, has left Zerust for Maf eking. 

Commandant Schwartz, with 150 men, is threatening 
the railway near Aasvogel Kop, north of Lobatsi. 

A British patrol, which reconnoitred within fourteen 
miles of Maf eking, found the railway uninjured, and the 
telegraph wires untouched north of Pitsani. 

Lord Roberts halted at Aasvogel Vlei late to-night 
after the engagement at Driefontein. 

March 11. President Kruger has asked the foreign 
consuls to invite the intervention of the powers to stop 
the war. 



306 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Lord Salisbury has cabled to President Kruger 
refusing peace at the price of the independence of 
the Republic. 

A despatch from Aasvogel Kop, dated this afternoon, 
says, regarding the movements of Lord Roberts's army : 
" The march was continued to-day to this point. No 
Boers were seen on the way. The British are now only 
twenty-five miles from Bloemfontein." 

The Boers are in force among the Biggarsburg Moun- 
tains, with General Joubert in command. 

Aasvogel, which the British reached to-night, was 
expected to be the last place at which the Boers 
would make their stand before Bloemfontein. It 
would appear that no such stand was made, and that 
Roberts's cavalry are practically at the gates of 
Bloemfontein. The way to the capital is now open 
to the whole force. 

The insurrection in the west of Cape Colony is spread- 
ing. Lord Kitchener is now on the spot, taking steps 
to suppress it. 

Changes in the distribution of the British forces, 
which the relief of Ladysmith has enabled Lord 
Roberts to make, have nearly been completed. In 
a few days there will be three large British armies 
in South Africa, the main one, under the field-mar- 
shal, in the centre of the Orange Free State ; the newly 
constituted army corps, under General White, in the 
south of the same state, and that under General Buller 
in Natal. General White will have a very large assem- 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 307 

Wage of troops under him, for General Warren and his 
division, upon landing at East London, will either join 
or support General Gatacre, while General Hunter, 
taking over the command in the west from General 
Clements, will collect the Tenth division on the Orange 
River, north of Colesberg. When General White unites 
his forces, he will have Generals Hunter's, Warren's, 
Gatacre's, and Brabant's divisions. 

Lord Roberts has sent the following despatch from 
Driefontein to the War Office : 

"The following telegram has been addressed by me 
to their Honours, Presidents of the Orange Free State 
and the South African Republic : 

" * Another instance having occurred of gross abuse 
of the white flag and of the signal of holding up hands 
in token of surrender, it is my duty to inform you that, 
if such abuse occurs again, I shall most reluctantly be 
compelled to order my troops to disregard the white flag 
entirely. 

"'The instance occurred on a kopje east of Drie- 
fontein farm, yesterday evening, and was witnessed by 
several of my own staff officers, as well as by myself, 
and resulted in the wounding of several of my officers 
and men. 

"'A large quantity of explosive bullets of three dif- 
ferent kinds was found in Commandant Cronje's laager ; 
and this has been the case after every engagement with 
your Honours' troops. Such breaches of the recognised 
usages of war and of the Geneva convention are a dis- 



308 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

grace to any civilised power. A copy of this telegram 
has been sent to my government, with the request that 
it may be communicated to all neutral powers.' " 

The white flag treachery was personally witnessed at 
Driefontein by Lord Roberts, who was looking through 
a telescope when the Welsh were charging, and saw the 
Boers hold up their hands, show their flag, and drop 
their guns. He saw an English officer advance to re- 
ceive their surrender, whereupon a Boer volley was fired, 
and the officer fell. 

March 12. General French pushed on this morning 
and took the hills commanding Bloemfontein, losing 
seventy men killed, and 341 wounded. 

Lord Roberts, with General Kelly-Kenny's and Gen- 
eral Colville's divisions, the Guards Brigade, and the 
mounted infantry, advanced to-day to Venters Vlei, 
fourteen miles from Bloemfontein. 

The British war loan of ^150,000,000 has all been 
eagerly taken. 

March ij. Lord Roberts entered Bloemfontein to- 
day. (See occupation of Bloemfontein.) 

An amnesty has been proclaimed for Free Staters 
who will lay down their arms. 

It is reported that the Boers have declared their 
intention of blowing up the Johannesburg mines. 

The United States government has offered its offices 
in behalf of peace, but England has declined. 

March 75. Generals Gatacre, Brabant, and Clements, 
with a total force of fifteen thousand men, have crossed 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 309 

to the north bank of the Orange River. The Boers are 
still in that region. 

General Cronje and other Boer prisoners left Cape 
Town to-day for St. Helena. 

British losses to date, in killed, wounded, and missing, 
amount to about sixteen thousand. 

March 16. General Methuen has'arrived at Warren- 
ton, fifty miles north of Kimberley, evidently advancing 
to the relief of Mafeking. 

The following comes from Bloemfontein : 

" Contempt for the flight of the Free Staters is uni- 
versal, many people asserting that President Steyn 
would have been shot if his intention to flee had been 
known. More harm has been done the Dutch cause 
by the ignominious surrender than is conceivable ; and, 
despite the statements of the brother of Steyn, it is 
doubtful that there will be any more resistance south 
of the vaal." 

Mr. Molengraff, chief of the intelligence department 
at Pretoria, announces that the Federal losses, prior to 
the relief of Kimberley and Ladysmith, were : killed, 
^jy ; wounded, 2,129; accidents, sickness, and other 
disabling causes, 1,545. Total, 4,351. 

March 18. A despatch from Kroonstad, Orange 
Free State, says : 

"The Pretoria Federal commandoes are here. They 
are in grand spirits, ready for the enemy, and are even 
defiantly awaiting the British advance. Presidents Kru- 
ger and Steyn addressed a vast camp-meeting to-day. 



3IO FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The Transvaal president made an impassioned appeal 
to the Burghers to maintain their gallant fight for 
freedom. He told them that it was certain the ulti- 
mate result of the war would be that the Boer Republics 
would retain their independence, despite the temporary 
British occupation of Bloemfontein. 

"President Steyn followed President Kruger in a 
strong speech. He told the Burghers that the Free 
State was far from conquered because its capital had 
been occupied by the British. He informed the Burgh- 
ers that England had definitely refused to allow the 
Republics to remain independent states. Therefore, all 
the Republics had to do now was to fight to the last. 

" President Steyn said that, in the six months the 
war had been going on, the Boers had lost less than 
one thousand men in killed, and that the fighting was 
really commencing now. As president, he warned the 
Free^State Burghers not to believe Lord Roberts's proc- 
lamation, and accept his invitation to lay down their 
arms. He assured them that the British had failed on 
every occasion to keep the solemn treaties they had 
made. 

" Sir Alfred Milner, the governor of Cape Colony, 
Mr. Steyn declared, had publicly proclaimed that the 
Afrikanders would be exterminated, knowing that the 
Republic would fight to the end. He closed by urging 
the Burghers to place their trust in God. President 
Steyn's appeal roused the Burghers to a pitch of wild 
enthusiasm." 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 3II 

March ig. The Boers have blown up the bridge 
north of Bloemfontein. 

The railroad from Bloemfontein to Cape Town is now 
open and in working order. 

There are to-day thirty-two thousand fresh British 
troops at sea. 

March 20. General Kitchener has entered Prieska, 
Cape Colony, without opposition, the insurgents laying 
down their arms, which confirms the previous reports of 
their willingness to submit. 

March 21. General Methuen is fighting at Warren- 
ton to-day. 

The Boers are wrecking the railway south of Lobatsi. 

Heavy skirmishing between Colonel Plumer's column 
and the Boers is now going on near Lobatsi. One 
British officer and two men have been killed, and one 
officer captured. 

March 22. The reports of skirmishing near Lobatsi, 
while apparently not inflicting any serious loss on Col- 
onel Plumer's column, cause some anxiety in regard to 
his ability to reach Mafeking. Colonel Bodle came 
in touch with the Boers just in time to prevent the 
camp being surprised. The Boers attacked the advance 
party, captured a few boxes of ammunition, and nearly 
secured a Maxim. Lieutenant Tyler was killed and 
Lieutenant Chapman was captured. Colonel Bodle, 
coming up, put the Boers to flight with heavy loss. 

The Boers yesterday were within a few miles of 
Lobatsi. 



312 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Yesterday afternoon the Boers pressed closely on 
Colonel Plumer's main camp, and kept up a hot fire with 
a Maxim, killing one white man and one native. They 
placed the Maxim and a i2}^-pounder on a hill on the 
east side of the line, four thousand yards from the camp. 

The British right is protected by Chief Bathoen, who 
has warned the Boers not to enter his territory. 

Colonel Plumer's present endeavour is to ensure the 
safety of the railway north of Lobatsi, and to watch 
well the left flank. It is probable that before the Boers 
retire toward Pretoria they will tackle the Rhodesians 
in force. It is reported that the Burghers are abandon- 
ing the environs of Mafeking, leaving only a sufficient 
number of artillerists to man the big guns. There are 
none at Ramathlabama, where they were supposed to 
have their base. Colonel Plumer's scouts were at 
Ramathlabama yesterday. 

Dynamite explosions wrecking the railway are pro- 
ceeding south of Lobatsi. 

March 2^. Colonel Plumer has been forced to retire 
to Crocodile Pool, north of Mafeking, where he was two 
months ago. 

Olivier's Boers, with two thousand wagons, are trek- 
king northward from Orange River, and General French 
is in hot pursuit. 

General Woodgate, who was wounded at Spion Kop, 
has just died of his wounds. 

March 2^. General French has returned to Bloem- 
fontein, Olivier having escaped him. 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 313 

March 26. A correspondent for one of the London 
papers has just sent the following interesting article 
home : 

"The hospitals and prisons in Cape Town furnish 
some notable material for historians. Such exquisite 
contrasts in human nature, and such a variety of emo- 
tions, have not existed since the days of the early 
Christian martyrs. 

" On the one hand you have a few thousand Boers of 
the most provincial type, — few of whom ever before saw 
the ocean, steamships, or steam cars, — penned up inside 
an up-to-date bicycle track that would suffer little in 
comparison with the one at Manhattan Beach. The 
very cement path, with its precipitous incline, is a con- 
stant marvel to them. 

"As for the two hundred transports and men-of-war 
that lie in the harbour here, dialect is inadequate to 
express the old Boer's ceaseless wonder. 

" Yesterday, by great good luck, I slipped by a sentry, 
and secured a few moments' conversation with a group 
just arrived. Some of them, more tutored, were at- 
tempting to explain the mystery of ocean navigation, 
but I noticed they had meagre success. 

" The final comment of one man, who seemed really 
anxious to be enlightened, was : 

" * I can understand about the steam cars, but the 
steamship I cannot understand. Where does it out- 
span, when night comes } ' 

"From early dawn until nightfall, these old plains- 



314 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

men, with their rough clothes, slouch hats, and ill-kempt 
whiskers, lean over the top of the grand stand and gaze 
at the thousands of Enghsh troops that march by with 
a great clanking of swords and shuffling of feet. 

" Some of the younger men and boys play football 
for diversion, but the majority wander about aimlessly, 
only to look up with a gleam in their eyes when an 
outsider approaches very near. 

" A move like this will arouse all the cunning of the 
imprisoned Boer, and he will pace up and down, darting 
envenomed looks at the sentry, for all the world like a 
wild animal. 

" ' You want to look out ; he's artful, is that chap 
with the blue trousers,' warns a chubby -faced cockney 
guard. 'We're only 'opin' 'e'll get to that wire, and 
then, my eye, we'll fill his bloomin' 'ide with lead.' 

"And this is no idle threat. The wire in question 
runs about the track, two rods from the fence, and the 
orders are to shoot any one who lays his hand on it. 
Two were shot this week. 

" The last was a boy twelve years old, who managed 
to get over the dead-line and climb the fence. Just as 
he reached the top a sentry caught sight of him, and 
the poor lad dropped with a bullet through the brain. 

*' The Boers are as cunning in devising methods to 
escape as in warfare. They are aided in their efforts, 
too, by hundreds of sympathisers in the city. In- 
deed, the whole colony is so divided in sentiment it 
is impossible to know whom one can trust. 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 3I5 

" In the siege of Kimberley, persons from the city 
managed each day to send outside a Hst of the British 
killed and wounded. One of the curiosities displayed in 
a drug-store window here is a football taken from a boy, 
who was kicking it along carelessly toward the Boer 
lines at Kimberley. It attracted the attention of the 
sentinel, who cut it open and discovered a new dia- 
gram of the town, showing exactly where each shell had 
landed during the day. 

" Pigeons and dogs were also used for conveying in- 
telligence. In Cape Town, the other day, a truck driver 
was discovered selling to. the Boers melons which con- 
tained pistols or knives. 

" The prisoners at Simon's Bay dug a tunnel eighty 
feet long, and nearly accomplished a wholesale escape. 
A German engineer laid out the course and started a 
hole in his tent. Every day, for three weeks, the pris- 
oners worked in squads, lying down on their stomachs 
and wriggling along, tearing away the earth with their 
fingers or part of a knife. 

" Unfortunately, the engineer planned the tunnel so 
that it would emerge just under a sentry-box on the 
outside of the fence. The result was that a soldier 
heard the subterranean scratching, and when the pris- 
oners were within three hours of liberty their ruse was 
discovered. 

" The English engineers who examined the work pro- 
nounce it a wonder, and cannot explain how the men 
managed to breathe at the far end. The hole was five 



3l6 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

feet under ground and about two feet six inches in 
diameter. The Boers carried away the earth in their 
pockets and shoes. 

" The discovery of this attempt has " well-nigh dis- 
heartened them, and with the doubling of the guard 
and erection of barbed-wire fences, escape now is impos- 
sible from the cycle track of Simon's Bay. 

" The only hope left them, therefore, is in prayer, 
and it is truly a novel sight, after the evening meal, to 
see a thousand of these great shaggy men down on 
their knees in the arena singing Wesleyan hymns, each 
holding a note long as possible, and praying almost 
angrily to Allemachte for deliverance. 

" It would probably be impossible to find in any 
other people such absolute belief in the God of the 
Old Testament. 

"Anything like skepticism is unknown." 

March 27. Gen. Petrus Jacobus Joubert, comman- 
dant-general of the Transvaal forces, died from peri- 
tonitis at Pretoria. 

It is said that Louis Botha is his probable successor. 

March 28. Ten thousand transport, cavalry, and gun 
animals are due to arrive here during this and next week. 

Lord Roberts reports the death, at Nerval's Pont, 
of Colonel the Honourable George Hugh Clough, C. B. 

General White, invalided, sailed for Southampton 
to-day. 

March 2g. General Joubert was to-day buried on 
his farm at Rusfontein. 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 317 

March jo. The following despatch has been inter- 
cepted from Kroonstad : 

" General Smuts to-day engaged the British at Mafel- 
kop, south of Brandfort, and held them at bay for six 
hours. The Burghers fought well. The casualties are 
unknown." 

It is reported that General Methuen has been ordered 
back to Kimberley. 

General Olivier has just passed Jammersburg drift 
with a large body of men, four guns, and eight hundred 
wagons. The column, which extended thirty miles, was 
accompanied by many women and children. 

Colonel Gough, of the 14th Hussars, who died at 
Norval's Pont yesterday, was buried at Bloemfontein 
to-day with full military honours, Lord Roberts and 
staff following the remains to the grave. 

The queen has cabled expression of sympathy to 
Mrs. Joubert. 

Lord Roberts has sent the following despatch to 
President Kruger : 

" Have just heard of the death of General Joubert, 
and desire to offer my sincere condolences upon the sad 
event. Would ask you to convey to General Joubert' s 
family an expression of my most respectful sympathy 
with their sad bereavement, and to assure them also 
from me that all ranks of her Majesty's forces share 
my feelings of deep regret at the sudden and untimely 
end of so distinguished a general, who devoted his life 
to the service of his country, and whose personal gal- 



3l8 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

lantry was only surpassed by his humane conduct and 
chivalrous bearing under all circumstances." 

The Free State raad will assemble at Kroonstad, 
April 2d. 

Lady Sarah Wilson has written from Mafeking, 
under date of March 30th, saying : " Colonel Plumer's 
column is now within twenty miles of us, but its advent 
is undesirable, unless accompanied by food supplies." 

Majrhji. A British force has been ambushed at 
Sannas Post, or Karee Spruit, twenty-two miles east 
of Bloemfontein. The British casualties number 
450. One hundred wagons and eleven guns have 
been captured by the Boers. (See Disaster at Sannas 
Post.) 

The following Boer despatch, under date of to-day, 
from Pretoria, has been intercepted : 

" There has been heavy fighting between Brandfort 
and Bloemfontein. The Wakkerstroom and Ermelo com- 
mandoes attacked seven thousand British and drove 
them back, with heavy loss. According to the reports 
of the wounded who have arrived here, fighting occurred 
all along the line. The Federal troops held positions on 
the side and top of the mountain, while the British 
positions were on the opposite side of the hill. The 
British charged repeatedly, but were repulsed. The 
latest reports say that the Federals were more than 
holding their own, but the final result of the fighting 
is not known here. The Federal loss was nine killed 
and wounded." 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 319 

Reports from Brandfort, received later, state that 
two thousand Federals attacked three thousand British 
successfully, but that thirteen thousand British rein- 
forcements arrived, and the Federals were compelled 
to retire, after punishing the British severely. 

The Bloemfontein correspondent reports that the 
movement of troops continues with bewildering fre- 
quency, brigades and divisions appearing and disappear- 
ing at brief intervals. No specific account of such 
movements is permitted. 

Some remounts were fired on yesterday on the rail- 
way, while they were on the way here from the south. 
The enemy are reported to be in considerable numbers 
to the southeast of the line. 

The Boers are also apparently feeling their way 
frequently to the west of the line. A party has been 
thrown forward, and has reoccupied the laager at 
Paardeberg, probably in search for buried arms and 
ammunition. 

The air is thick with rumours of large forces of Boers 
to the southward, but there is no positive official in- 
formation on the subject. On the other hand, the 
railway is said to be well guarded. 

President Steyn is reported to have gone to Lady- 
brand to stir up the Burghers there to renewed re- 
sistance. 

The Boers have removed from the immediate vicinity 
of Plattberg, and taken up a commanding position 
adjacent. 



320 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The Dutch who surrendered their arms at Lady- 
brand are now suffering seizures of their Hve stock. 

The transportation of the prisoners to St. Helena is 
arousing the anger of the Boers, who threaten to re- 
tahate by sending the British prisoners to Koonatipoort, 
reputed to be the worst fever den in South Africa, 

An order has just been issued by the War Office that 
all revolver ammunition served out for South Africa 
shall have a solid bullet. No mushroom pattern bullet 
is to be taken. It has just occurred to the War Office, 
the original patentees of the " dum-dum," that the 
British army service revolver ammunition contains an 
expanding bullet, whereas the Boers, against whom 
charges of using uncivilised ammunition have been so 
freely made, employ Mauser pistols, which carry a 
steel-coated bullet of the most humane pattern. 

Colonel Plumer made an attack upon the Boers near 
Ramathlabama to-day, and was finally forced to retire, 
after he himself had been wounded. 

It was thus reported by one of his staff : 

<' The fight was conducted, on Colonel Plumer's side, 
under great difficulties, being in the proximity of the 
Boer laagers, whence reinforcements could be promptly 
sent to the Burghers ; and there was little cover avail- 
able for the British when the fight began, the plain 
being but sparsely wooded, and the railroad embank- 
ments, the chief protection, being only two feet high. 
The men behaved gallantly, however, and the officers 
were exceptionally conspicuous in the affair. 



THE WORK IN MARCH. 32 1 

" With the exception of a few rounds by the British 
Maxim at Raraathlabama, the fire on both sides was 
entirely by rifle. Half of the British officers were more 
or less seriously wounded. Colonel Plumer's wound 
was in his right arm. His horse was shot. Colonel 
Bogle and Captain Rolt were wounded. Colonel Bogle, 
Plumer's orderly, is missing. Capt. Fred Crewe was 
shot dead while covering the retreat of others. Cap- 
tain MacLaren was severely wounded, and Lieutenant 
Milligan, the famous Yorkshire cricketer, fatally, while 
tenaciously holding an assigned position. Lieutenant 
Milligan rode unassisted to Ramathlabama. 

" The British casualties were : two officers and six men 
killed ; three officers and thirty-six men wounded ; one 
officer and eleven men captured." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

OVERTURES FOR PEACE. 

/^^N the fifth day of March, 1900, President Kruger, 
^-^ of the South African RepubHc, and President 
Steyn, of the Orange Free State, made overtures for 
peace by sending the following telegram to the British 
government : 

" Bloemfontein, March 5th. — The blood and the 
tears of thousands who have suffered by this war, and 
the prospect of all moral and economic ruin wherewith 
South Africa is now threatened, make it necessary for 
both belligerents to ask themselves dispassionately and 
as in the sight of the tribune God, for what are they 
fighting, and whether the aim of each justifies all this 
appalling misery and devastation. 

"With this object, and in view of the assertions of 
various British statesmen to the effect that this war was 
begun and is being carried on with the set purpose of 
undermining her Majesty's authority in South Africa, and 
of setting up an administration over all of South Africa 
independent of her Majesty's government, we consider 
it our duty to solemnly declare that this war was under- 

332 



OVERTURES FOR PEACE. 323 

taken solely as a defensive measure to maintain the 
threatened independence of the South African Repub- 
lic, and is only continued in order to secure and main- 
tain the incontestable independence of both Republics 
as sovereign international states, and to obtain the as- 
surance that those of her Majesty's subjects who have 
taken part with us in this war shall suffer no harm 
whatever in person or property. 

" On these conditions, but on these conditions alone, 
we are now, as in the past, desirous of seeing peace 
reestablished in South Africa ; while, if her Majesty's 
government is determined to destroy the independence 
of the Republics, there is nothing left to us and to our 
people but to persevere to the end in the course already 
begun. 

"In spite of the overwhelming preeminence of the 
British empire, we are confident that that God who 
lighted the unextinguishable fire of the love of freedom 
in the hearts of ourselves and of our fathers, will not 
forsake us, and will accomplish his work in us and in 
our descendants. 

"We hesitated to make this declaration earlier to 
your Excellency, as we feared that as long as the advan- 
tage was always on our side, and as long as our forces 
held the defensive positions far within her Majesty's 
colonies, such a declaration might hurt the feelings 
and honour of the British people. But now that the 
prestige of the British empire may be considered to be 
assured by the capture of one of our forces by her 



324 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Majesty's troops, and that we have thereby been forced 
to evacuate other positions which our forces had occu- 
pied, that difficulty is over, and we can no longer hesi- 
tate to clearly inform your government and people, in 
the sight of the whole civilised world, why we are fight- 
ing, and on what conditions we are ready to restore 
peace." 

To this telegram Lord Salisbury sent in reply the 
following : 

" Foreign Office, March nth. — I have the honour to 
acknowledge your Honour's telegram, dated March 5th, 
from Bloemfontein, of which the purport is principally 
to demand that her Majesty's government shall recog- 
nise the 'incontestable independence' of the South 
African Republic and Free State as ' sovereign inter- 
national states,' and to offer on those terms to bring 
the war to a conclusion. 

" In the beginning of October last, peace existed 
between her Majesty and the two Republics under con- 
ventions which then were in existence. A discussion 
had been proceeding for some months between her 
Majesty's government and the South African Repub- 
lic, of which the object was to obtain redress for certain 
very serious grievances under which the British residents 
in South Africa were suffering. 

" In the course of those negotiations, the South 
African Republic had, to the knowledge of her 
Majesty's government, made considerable armaments, 




LIEUTENANT-GENERAL LORD METHUEN. 



OVERTURES FOR PEACE. 325 

and the latter had, consequently, taken steps to provide 
corresponding reinforcements of the British garrisons 
at Cape Town and in Natal. No infringement of the 
rights guaranteed by the conventions had, up to that 
point, taken place on the British side. 

" Suddenly, at two days' notice, the South African 
Republic, after issuing an insulting ultimatum, declared 
war upon her Majesty, and the Orange Free State, with 
whom there had not even been any discussion, took a 
similar step. Her Majesty's dominions were imme- 
diately invaded by the two Republics. Siege was laid 
to three towns within the British frontier, a large por- 
tion of two colonies was overrun with great destruction 
of property and life, and the Republics claimed to treat 
the inhabitants of extensive portions of her Majesty's 
dominions as if those dominions had been annexed to 
one or the other of them. 

" In anticipation of these operations, the South 
African Republic had been accumulating for many 
years past mihtary stores on an enormous scale, which, 
by their character, could only have been intended for 
use against Great Britain. 

" Your Honours make some observations of a nega- 
tive character upon the object with which these prep- 
arations were made. I don't think it necessary to 
discuss the question you have raised. But the result 
of these preparations, carried on with great secrecy, 
has been that the British empire has been compelled 
to confront an invasion which has entailed upon the 



326 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

empire a costly war and the loss of thousands of 
precious lives. This great calamity has been the 
penalty Great Britain has suffered for having of re- 
cent years acquiesced to the existence of the two 
Republics. 

" In view of the use to which the two Republics have 
put the position which was given them, and the calami- 
ties their unprovoked attack has inflicted on her 
Majesty's dominions, her Majesty's government can 
only answer your Honours' telegram by saying that 
they are not prepared to assent to the independence 
either of the South African Republic, or the Orange 
Free State." 

Before Lord Salisbury's reply had been received, 
Presidents Kruger and Steyn, through Consul Adelbert 
S. Hay at Pretoria, asked that the United States gov- 
ernment would mediate between the British govern- 
ment and the South African Republics, with the view 
of bringing about peace. 

The representations made to Great Britain were so 
put that they assumed nothing of a desire to intervene, 
but simply transmitted a communication made to the 
United States by Consul Hay, with the accompanying 
assurances that anything the State department could do 
in the interests of peace would be gladly undertaken. 

The United States charge d'affaires, Mr. Henry 
White, called upon Lord Salisbury at the Foreign 
Office, and received a formal reply from the British 



OVERTURES FOR PEACE. 327 

government, declining the good offices of the United 
States in regard to peace. 

Two days later, the "Boer Peace Commission" asked 
Italy to intervene, and the Italian minister of foreign 
affairs, the Marquis di Visconti-Venosta, replied that, 
while he would receive the envoys, the best he could 
do would be to transmit their proposals to London, thus 
following the course of the United States. 

Then followed the visit of the Commission to the 
United States, and meanwhile Lord Roberts continued 
his advance, capturing one stronghold after another, 
until the Republics were literally crushed out of exist- 
ence. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE BATTLE OF POPLAR GROVE. 

T ORD ROBERTS'S movement at Poplar Grove 
-* — ' on March 7th thoroughly surprised, outwitted, 
and out-manoeuvred the Boers, who unsuccessfully 
ventured battle. Instead of pushing infantry forward 
against entrenchments, he played upon the enemy with 
artillery 'as the men moved around the kopjes, and used 
the cavalry to cut off a retreat. 

At Poplar Grove the plan of battle was as follows : 
General Colville's division extended along the north 
bank ; General Tucker held the centre reserve, and the 
Guards Brigade had the centre advance. General Kelly- 
Kenny's division was ordered to make a huge flanking 
movement on the Boers' left, following General French, 
who was instructed to move southeast, until opposite 
the Boer flank, and then swing around the rear. 

Every movement was admirably executed and entirely 
successful. The Boers were surprised, as was evident 
from the state of the deserted camps. Twice the 
British cavalry were almost in position to charge, but 
they admit that they were foiled by the manoeuvring of 
the Boers. 

328 



THE BATTLE OF POPLAR GROVE. 329 

General French pursued the enemy vigorously. Gen- 
eral Colville merely demonstrated against the high 
mountain occupied by the Transvaal troops, who fled 
in consequence of the flight of the Free Staters, south 
of the river. 

In the course of the operations the 9th Lancers 
attempted to get close to the Boers' right, with the 
object of charging ; but the Boers came out in great 
force, and the Lancers were compelled to retire. A 
battery was then sent forward to hold the enemy in 
check, while the Grahamstown vohmteers and a com- 
pany of mounted infantry, supported by another battery, 
engaged the Boers on their right flank. 

The Boers fired shell, falling short, however, and 
they made a stubborn defence on the kopje on the 
British right, enfilading the battery, and killing eighteen 
of the battery horses. The mounted infantry gradually 
repelled the Boers, and the battery then took a position 
and expelled them from the laager in confusion. 

The Boers held a strong position on the north bank 
of the river, but the flight from the southern bank com- 
pelled them to retreat. They showed great adroitness 
in getting away the wagons, and displayed a bold front 
while the rest of the force was busy inspanning. Gen- 
eral French's division consisted of three brigades of 
cavalry, two of mounted infantry, and seven horse- 
batteries. 

At 4.30 p. M., March 7th, Lord Roberts telegraphed 
from Osfontein to the War Ofiice : 



330 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" Our operations to-day promise to be a great success. 
The enemy occupied a position four miles north and 
eleven miles south of the Modder River. I placed 
General Colville's division on the north bank, and Gen- 
erals Kelly-Kenny's and Tucker's divisions, with cav- 
alry, on the south bank. The cavalry division succeeded 
in turning the enemy's left flanks, opening a road for 
the Sixth Division, which is advancing without being 
obliged to fire a shot up to the present time. 

"The enemy are in full retreat toward the north 
and east. They are being closely followed by cavalry, 
horse-artillery, and mounted infantry, while Tucker's 
Seventh Division, Colville's Ninth Division, and the 
Guards Brigade, under Pole-Car ew, are making their 
way across the river at Poplar's drift, where I propose 
to place my headquarters this evening. 

" Our casualties, will, I trust, be few, as the enemy 
were"" quite unprepared for being attacked by the flank 
and having their communications with Bloemfontein 
threatened." 

Two hours later he telegraphed : 

"We had a very successful day, and have completely 
routed the enemy, who are in full retreat. The posi- 
tion which they occupied is extremely strong and cun- 
ningly arranged, with a second line of entrenchments 
which would have caused us heavy loss had a direct 
attack been made. The turning movement was neces- 
sarily wide, owing to the nature of the ground, and the 
cavalry and horse-artillery horses are much done up. 



THE BATTLE OF POPLAR GROVE. 33 1 

" The fighting was practically confined to the cavalry 
division, which, as usual, did exceedingly well, and 
General French reports that the horse-artillery batteries 
did great execution among the enemy. 

" Our casualties were about fifty. I regret to say that 
Lieutenant Keswick was killed, and Lieutenant Bailey 
severely wounded; both of the 12th Lancers. Lieu- 
tenant De Crespigny, of the 2d Life Guards, was 
severely wounded. Generals De Wet and Delarey 
commanded the Boer forces. 

"The enemy occupied a position four miles north and 
eleven miles south of the Modder River. I placed Gen- 
eral Colville's division on the north bank, and Generals 
Kelly-Kenny's and Tucker's divisions, with cavalry, on 
the south bank. The cavalry division succeeded in 
turning the enemy's left flank, opening a road for the 
Sixth Division, which advanced." 

On the following day he sent the despatch given 
below, dating the same from Poplar Grove : 

" Two brigades of cavalry, with horse-artillery and 
Kelly-Kenny's division, marched to-day ten miles east- 
ward. The Boers were quite taken by surprise yes- 
terday. They moved off so hurriedly that they left 
cooked dinners behind. We captured a Krupp gun 
and several tents and wagons. 

" In addition to the list of casualties sent yesterday, 
we had two men killed, forty-six wounded, and one 
missing." 

General French, in trying to intercept the main body 



33^ Fighting for the empire. 

of Boers in their retreat, was foiled by a few riflemen. 
A press correspondent describes how this came about : 

"About six thousand yards from the square kopje 
at Driefontein a 3-inch Creusot and a Vickers-Maxim 
opened fire on our advance. A great many shells were 
thrown ; we, however, suffered no loss, and P Battery 
opened in an attempt to silence these guns, whose 
chance of escape seemed then very slender. 

" But here an exciting and unlooked-for change oc- 
curred. French, once more reahsing that extension on 
his right was the thing to effect, gave orders to that 
end, and, riding himself to make his dispositions, sud- 
denly discovered on a ridge before him a party of about 
fifty Boer sharpshooters, who not only drove off the 
general and staff, but forced the retirement of the whole 
right wing, barring a squadron of Household, with two 
Maxims, some mounted infantry with Maxims, and a 
squadron of Remington's Guides, all posted in broken 
ground on our right, and under sharp fire from the 
kopje we had neglected to seize. 

" P Battery at first regarded a target of forty or fifty 
Boers as beneath contempt, then, finding how effectual 
a fire they could direct, and misunderstanding French's 
orders to them to shell the ridge, limbered up to retire. 

" French and staff had luckily escaped without in- 
jury, except a horse shot. He himself dashed down 
the head of the battery and corrected the error, but 
our advance was stopped for an hour and twenty min- 
utes. We suffered nearly fifty casualties, and, more 



THE BATTLE OF POPLAR GROVE. 333 

important than all, the enemy was moving, whilst we 
were held, and got off his guns and stores. 

"A most brilliant stand, brilliantly executed. We 
had the chagrin of watching from the disputed ridge 
the distant retirement of the Boer convoy. Not till 
next day did we hear that President Kruger had been 
present at the battle, and that we might even have 
captured him and brought the war to a sudden end, but 
for the ill-starred contraction of our right wing, which, 
in dealing with an enemy of such mobility as the Boers, 
was on much too short a radius, and which had no jus- 
tification in any effort on the part of the enemy to 
break through our centre, who, on the contrary, 
throughout the day, constantly rallied on his left, ac- 
tually outflanking our contracted right between 9 and 
10 A. M. and again at i p. m." 

Lord Roberts's turning movement effectually dis- 
lodged the Boers from their position, but they suc- 
ceeded in making good their escape. They were not 
surrounded. They took alarm too soon for the British 
cavalry, which, exhausted by the wide sweep necessary 
to turn the Boer works, could not cut them off or bring 
them to action. They halted at Abraham's Kraal, 
about thirty miles from Poplar Grove, and about the 
same distance from Bloemfontein. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE BATTLE OF DRIEFONTEIN. 

THE engagement at Driefontein, March loth, prac- 
tically placed the capital of the Free State at the 
mercy of the British. The fate of Bloemfontein was 
decided ere yet the imperial forces had approached 
within striking distance. 

Throughout the advance of March loth the Boers 
opposed the British, fighting a stubborn rear-guard 
action until in danger of being cut off, when they iied. 
Owing to the Boers' intimate knowledge of the country, 
they were able to cause the British considerable trouble, 
but could not prevent them from reaching their destina- 
tion. 

Lord Roberts telegraphed at the close of the engage- 
ment : 

" The brunt of the fighting fell on General Kelly- 
Kenny's division, two battalions of which, the Welsh 
and Essex, turned the Boers out of two strong posi- 
tions at the point of the bayonet. 

" I cannot get the precise number of casualties before 
I march, but will communicate it as soon as possible. 
The Boers suffered heavily, 102 of their dead being left 
on the ground. We captured about twenty prisoners. 

334 



THE BATTLE OF DRIEFONTEIN. 335 

" Among the killed are Captain Eustace, of the Buffs, 
Captain Lomax of the Welsh regiment, and Mr. Mc- 
Kartie, a retired Indian civilian, attached to Kitchener's 
Horse." 

The British advanced from Poplar Grove with three 
columns, to each of which was attached a brigade of 
cavalry. The march was begun at early dawn, and the 
first column, under General Tucker, moved southward 
to Petrusburg without opposition, occupying that town. 

The second column, under General Kelly-Kenny, fol- 
lowed the river bank two hours or more, and then struck 
across the country in the direction of Abraham's Kraal, 
until meeting General Colville, with the third column, 
on the upper Bloemfontein road. 

Here was found the enemy, strongly posted on the 
ridge connecting a range of kopjes. They had mounted 
seven or eight guns, and these were opened on the 
mounted infantry and cavalry of both British columns. 
Owing to the nature of the country, the horsemen were 
unable to outflank the Boers, and it became necessary 
to wait until the infantry could come up. 

The Boers were estimated to be not less than four 
thousand strong, and it is safe to say that the engage- 
ment was a surprise to both armies. 

The Boers were surprised by the double line of ad- 
vance. They had taken a position ahead, on the right 
flank of General Kelly-Kenny, thinking that his force 
represented the general advance. They found afterward 
that a parallel column threatened their rear. 



336 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The British infantry, moving slowly, were unable to 
arrive in time, and thus the Boers finally succeeded in 
escaping. 

One of Roberts's officers writes : 

"The fight throughout was much involved. The 
enemy evacuated and reoccupied positions, subtly con- 
cealing their intentions, and only withdrawing their 
guns a few minutes prior to their intending capture. 
Their guns outranged ours, the naval brigade not arriv- 
ing in time. 

" Our cavalry horses were completely tired by the re- 
peated withdrawal. The turning movement was begun 
too late. The enemy attempted with heliograph to lure 
us to occupy a kopje which they held; but, detecting 
the deception, we returned." 

The Welsh gallantly rushed some of the entrenched 
kopjes, and the Highlanders made several direct attacks 
with such impetuosity that the Boers beat a precipitate 
retreat ; but not before fifteen prisoners of the Pretoria 
command had been taken by the Welsh. 

A correspondent states : 

" Kelly-Kenny's force sustained the brunt of the 
fighting, advancing against a horse-shoe-shaped posi- 
tion. It was not until the Welsh carried the Boer 
right that the position was cleared, but it was then 
impossible for Colville's infantry, on Kelly-Kenny's 
right, to have entered the action in time to crush 
the retreating foe." 



CHAPTER XXX. 

OCCUPATION OF BLOEMFONTEIN, 

ON March 13th, at 5.20 a. m., Lord Roberts tele- 
graphed from Venter's Vlei to the War Office as 
follows : 

" I directed General French yesterday, if there were 
time before dark, to seize the railway station at Bloem- 
fontein and thus secure the rolling-stock. At midnight 
I received a report from him that, after considerable 
opposition, he had been able to occupy the hills, close 
to the railway station, which command Bloemfontein. 
A brother of President Steyn has been made a prisoner. 

"The telegraph line leading northward has been cut 
and the railway broken up. I am now starting with the 
3d Cavalry Brigade, which I called up from the 7th 
Division, near Petrusburg, yesterday, and the mounted 
infantry, to reinforce the cavalry division. The rest of 
the force will follow as quickly as possible." 

Late on the afternoon of the same day Lord Roberts 
sent a second despatch, dating it at the capital of the 
Free State : 

" By the help of God, and by the bravery of her 
Majesty's soldiers, the troops under my command have 

337 



2,2,0 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

taken possession of Bloemfontein. The British flag now 
flies over the presidency, evacuated last evening by Mr. 
Steyn, late president of the Orange Free State. Mr. 
Frazer, member of the late executive government, the 
mayor, the secretary to the late government, the land- 
rost, and other officials, met me two miles from the town 
and presented me with the keys of the public offices. 

"The enemy has withdrawn from the neighbourhood, 
and all seems quiet. The inhabitants of Bloemfontein 
gave the troops a cordial welcome." 

A private letter thus tells the story : 

" Lord Roberts entered the Free State capital prac- 
tically unopposed. He lay at Venters VI ei, fourteen 
miles away, last night, with General Kelly-Kenny's 
and General Colville's divisions, the Guards Brigade 
and the mounted infantry. 

"General French, having cut the railway and tele- 
graphs, experienced a slight skirmish with some Boers 
holding a kopje southeast of the town. Early in the 
morning the cavalry brigade moved forward and occu- 
pied slowly several kopjes which commanded the Boers. 

" A few well-placed shells from the horse-artillery 
drove off the enemy. General French then sent out 
scouts to feel their way toward the town, perceiving 
which, several press correspondents galloped forward 
and entered the town, which wore an every-day aspect. 

" The people were out shopping or promenading, and 
at first the three newspaper men were regarded as 
townsfolk. When, later, it became known that they 



OCCUPATION OF BLOEMFONTEIN. 339 

were the forerunners of the British army, they were 
greeted cordially and conducted to a club, where they 
met Mr. Frazer, of the executive council, the mayor, and 
other officials. These they persuaded to take carriages 
and to go to meet Lord Roberts. 

" As the party drove out of the city, the British cav- 
alry were closing around like a high net. The depu- 
tation soon arrived opposite the kopje where Lord 
Roberts was stationed, and a messenger rode forward 
and announced to the commander-in-chief that Bloem- 
fontein would surrender. 

" A little later the deputation began to approach, and 
Lord Roberts went forward to meet them. The scene 
was picturesque in the extreme. A few yards away 
the guns of a battery pointed their grim mouths toward 
the late position of the Boers, while the tin roofs of 
Bloemfontein shone in the ' distance. 

" After salutes had been exchanged, a member of the 
deputation stepped forward and declared that the town, 
being without defences, wished to surrender, hoping 
that Lord Roberts would protect life and property. 
He replied that, provided there was no opposition, he 
would undertake to guarantee the security of both. 

"The interview was very cordial, without a sign of 
solemness. It struck the spectators that the deputa- 
tion seemed relieved by the presence of the British 
troops. Lord Roberts notified the deputation of his 
intention of entering the town in state, and they with- 
drew to inform the townspeople. 



340 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

"Lord Roberts then made his mihtary dispositions, 
ordering the ist Brigade to follow him and to take 
possession of the town. With his staff and the military- 
attaches, he descended the kopje and arrived on the 
plain, where he waited until the cavalry approached. 
Then he entered the city, followed by his personal staff, 
the general staff, the military attaches, and the troops." 

Lord Roberts received a tremendous ovation. After 
visiting the public buildings, he went to the official resi- 
dence of the President, followed by a cheering crowd, 
who waved the British flag and sang the British na- 
tional anthem. The people were in a condition of 
frenzied excitement. 

Major-General Prettyman was appointed governor of 
the city. 

" When, later in the day, Lord Roberts rode through 
the streets with his staff, he was everywhere cheered. 
The British national anthem was sung in all quarters ; 
the shops were open, and there appeared to be great 
and general rejoicing. 




ANNEXATION CEREMONY. RAISING THE FLAG AT BLOEM- 
FONTEIN. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

GENERAL JOUBERT. 

THE following despatch was sent from Pretoria, 
under date of March 28, 1900 : 

" General Joubert died here from peritonitis at eleven 
o'clock last night, to the general grief of all. The 
funeral will take place to-morrow, but as General Jou- 
bert always desired to be buried in the mausoleum built 
on his farm, it is uncertain whether the funeral will be 
a state one or not." 

General Petrus Jacobus Joubert, commandant-general 
of the Transvaal forces, better known as Piet Joubert, 
or " Slien Piet " (Slim Peter), was born about sixty- 
eight years ago. He was descended from the old 
French Huguenot family which settled in South Africa 
many years ago. He was born in Cape Colony, but 
was taken by his parents, when seven years old, to the 
Orange Free State, where he was taught from early 
childhood to shoot straight and to hate the British. 
He is described as having been utterly fearless. 

Of schooling he had but little, and he never saw a 
newspaper until he was nineteen years old. In spite 
of this, his ambition prompted him to read the few 

341 



342 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

books he could secure, and he succeeded in obtaining 
a fair knowledge of history and languages. 

In consequence of the acquisition of Natal by the 
British, he and his family moved from that part of 
South Africa, and settled in the Transvaal. Soon 
afterward he became a Burgher of the South African 
Republic, and a daring fighter. It was claimed in his 
behalf that he could lead a body of men more success- 
fully against hostile natives than any other man in the 
Transvaal. He was, eventually, so feared by the na- 
tives that the knowledge that he was at the head of a 
punitive expedition usually resulted in their surrender. 
It was during these wars with the natives that Joubert 
became acquainted with Paul Kruger, and the two men 
were bosom friends. He was elected vice-president 
of the Transvaal, defeated Sir George Colley at Majuba 
Hill in 1 88 1, and acted as president of the Republic in 
1883-84, during Kruger's absence in Europe. 

General Joubert was always in favour of the use of 
force instead of diplomacy, and President Kruger, on 
several occasions, had great difficulty in repressing his 
hot-headed colleague. 

In the late seventies, during the troubles with Eng- 
land that culminated in the war under the memory of 
which England has smarted ever since, Joubert became 
a very prominent figure in Transvaal affairs. He accom- 
panied Kruger on his memorable visit to England, when 
the demand for the independence of the Republic was 
formulated. This demand was finally refused, and on 



GENERAL JOUBERT. 343 

December 30, 1880, Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorious 
formed themselves into the triumvirate that declared 
the Republic independent. 

Then came the memorable war, with Laing's Nek, 
Ingogo, and Majuba Hill following in rapid and fatal 
sequence. Joubert was the hero of Majuba Hill. He 
personally led the force that dealt England the blow 
she has neither forgotten nor forgiven. 

Joubert remarked the next day that he always had 
supposed the English flag was red, but now he knew it 
was white; he had seen it at Majuba Hill. That remark 
completed his conquest of the Boers. 

Fairness was a conspicuous trait of General Joubert. 
The Boers, in their ambition to possess outlying lands 
that England had seized before them, raided Bechuana- 
land in 1884. The movement was a popular one. The 
Boers were flushed with victory. They believed the 
land was more theirs than England's, for they had 
broken the ground before England possessed it ; but 
Joubert stopped it. 

"I positively refuse," he declared, "to hold office 
under a government that deliberately breaks its cove- 
nant, and we have made covenants with England." 

He meant it. He would have resigned and gone back 
to his farm, and the Boers knew it. 

Joubert organised the army of the Transvaal. He 
divided the country into seventeen military depart- 
ments, and each department again and again into 
smaller divisions, with commanders, field-cornets, and 



344 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

lieutenants of various ranks, in charge. Every man in 
the Transvaal became a trained soldier without leav- 
ing his farm. Every man had his complete equipment 
ready at home. Every man was pledged to appear at 
an appointed spot at the summons. 

To mobilise the entire force of the Republic, Joubert 
had to send only seventeen telegrams. The word was 
passed down the line, and in an incredibly short time 
hundreds of post-riders carried the summons from farm 
to farm. Within forty-eight hours the entire nation 
would be in arms, fully equipped and provisioned for 
a march, awaiting only the command to assemble. 

In the old days of Majuba Hill the army thus as- 
sembled was an army of sharpshooters. Then Joubert's 
proud boast was true : " Forty bullets per soldier, and a 
man per bullet." 

Joubert was Vice-President of the South African Re- 
public ; he was also commander of the forces ; he was 
on the Executive Council, which answers to our Cabinet, 
and he held a dozen other offices of high honour. 

He had made two attempts at wresting the presidency 
from Paul Kruger, but was defeated in both cases. The 
first time he ran, there were those who alleged that he 
actually polled more votes than Kruger, and was not 
returned, owing only to a particularly flagrant piece 
of vemeukerij, or swindling, combined with wholesale 
bribery and corruption of the returning officers. 

Be this as it may, the next election, five years later, 
was fought on other lines. The former, by the way, 



GENERAL jOUBERT. 345 

was conducted in the time-honoured open fashion, every 
Burgher giving his vote openly and in pubUc. Before 
the latter election, however, a secret ballot act had 
been passed, and voting took place, nominally, in se- 
cret, though it is probable that the Burghers were 
coerced into voting just as the wire-pullers pleased. 

There were three candidates : Paul Kruger, Chief 
Justice Kotze, and General Joubert. Kruger happened 
to be in evil odour in the Transvaal at the time, for 
various causes, not the least of which was his open 
advocacy of the Dopper Church against the Gevor- 
meerde or less puritanical Lutheran party. He there- 
fore feared that his period of presidentship might be 
brought to an untimely close. 

Kotze was a dangerous rival. He was honest, up- 
right, a judge, a gentleman, and a man of education. 
All these qualifications turned to drawbacks in Kruger's 
eyes. So Joubert was induced, for reasons which were 
openly discussed at the time, to make a triangular duel 
of the election, and by splitting the votes of the pro- 
gressive Burghers, ensure Kruger's election. 

Although Joubert was nominally commander-in-chief 
of the Transvaal forces, it could not be said that he 
possessed the entire confidence of his soldiers, patriotic 
or mercenary. The young Boers petitioned Pretoria to 
replace him by Cronje, who, as a fire-eater, had no equal 
in the Transvaal. But Joubert was too old and tried a 
patriot to be ousted by the noisy clamour of the young 
Boers. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE DISASTER AT SANNAS POST. 

/^^N the 31st of March, a British force, with two bat- 
^^ teries, walked dehberately into a Boer ambush, 
hardly more than twenty miles from Bloemfontein, at 
a place known as Sannas Post, Karee, or Korn Spruit. 
Six out of twelve guns, all the wagons, and many men 
fell into the hands of the wily enemy, whose daring, 
displayed so near the captured capital, shows that they 
rapidly recovered heart after their reverses. 

The British force, commanded by Colonel Broadwood, 
consisting of the loth Hussars, Household Cavalry, 
two horse-batteries, and a body of mounted infantry 
under Colonel Pilcher, which had been garrisoning 
Thaba N'Chu, was obliged, in consequence of the 
near approach of a large commando of Boers, to aban- 
don its post on the evening of March 30th. Colonel 
Broadwood marched to the Bloemfontein water-works, 
south of the Modder, where he encamped at four 
o'clock in the morning. 

At early dawn the camp was shelled by the enemy 
from a near point. Colonel Broadwood sent off a con- 
voy with the batteries, while the rest of the force 
remained to act as a rear-guard. 

346 



THE DISASTER AT SANNAS POST. 347 

The Boers drove the convoy, exactly as partridges 
are driven to a gun, directly to a drift or spruit, and as 
each wagon descended the hollow the enemy appeared. 
The driver of the wagon was shown which way he 
should turn his team so as not to block the convoy. 
When the guns arrived, the trap was all clear again for 
their reception. As one who was present said, " It was 
like a cloak-room. The Boers politely took your rifle 
and asked you kindly to step to one side. There was 
nothing else for you to do." 

The Boers' side of the story is as follows : 

" Colonel Broadwood evacuated Thaba N'Chu, owing 
to the advance of Commandant Olivier from the south. 
The Federal troops found the British camp in peaceful 
slumber, without a sentinel or an outpost to give the 
alarm. General De Wet immediately placed guns and 
the commandoes in such positions as to surround the 
British, who did not have time to recover from their 
surprise. 

" It appears that when the first retreating British 
wagons entered the drift, the ambushers shouted, 
' Hands up ! ' then removed the officers, and let the 
cart go through. This process was repeated several 
times, till the wagons arrived in a bunch, when the ruse 
was discovered, and a disorderly flight followed. In 
one cart were two officers, to whom Commandant De 
Wet shouted, ' Hands up ! ' One of them obeyed, where- 
upon the other shot his comrade dead, refused to sur- 
render, and was immediately shot. 



348 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

"The Burghers lost three men killed and ten men 
wounded, including a field-cornet. 

" Among the wounded was the Dutch military attache, 
Nixe, who received a bullet in his chest. Altogether, 
the Boers captured 389 prisoners throughout the day. 

" The significance of the battle must not be underesti- 
mated. It was fought by a force of Free Staters on a 
flat plain and without shelter. The Free Staters are 
now desirous of marching on Bloemfontein, and the 
Transvaalers are anxious to emulate the large success 
of their allies. 

" A despatch-box was found at Sannas Post contain- 
ing the oaths signed by the Free Staters who surren- 
dered. The signers have been sent for in order that 
the general may explain the invalidity of oaths under 
compulsion. 

" It is officially announced that the Republican forces 
captured eleven officers and 362 men, with eleven guns, 
two ammunition wagons and mules." 

That the British did not surrender tamely is shown 
by Lord Roberts's telegram of April 2d from Bloem- 
fontein : 

"There has been considerable delay in getting accu- 
rate returns of the casualties, as the action took place 
twenty-two miles hence, the telegraph cable has been 
interrupted several times, cloudy weather has interfered 
with signalling, and, although there has been no gen- 
eral engagement since, the forces are continually in 
touch with the enemy. 



THE DISASTER AT SANNAS POST. 349 

" There were many acts of conspicuous gallantry dis- 
played during the day. K Battery remained in action 
under a cross-fire at twelve hundred yards, for some 
hours, the officers serving the guns as the casualties 
reduced the detachment. 

" Several gallant attempts were made to bring in 
two guns, the teams of which had been killed, but at 
each attempt the horses were shot. 

" The Essex, Munster, Shropshire, and Northumber- 
land mounted infantry, and Roberts's Horse covered 
the retirement of the guns from that position to the 
crossing of the drift found by the cavalry two miles far- 
ther south, and withstood the determined attacks of 
the enemy, who, in some cases, advanced to within one 
hundred yards. 

"U Battery, of the Royal Horse Artillery, was sud- 
denly surrounded in the drift, and the officers and men 
were all made prisoners without a shot being fired. 
But Major Taylor and a sergeant-major succeeded in 
escaping in the confusion. Five guns were captured at 
the same time." 

A letter from Sergeant Parker, describing the Sannas 
Post disaster, says : 

" In galloping from the spruit, my gun was overturned, 
and every horse was shot. I got up with No. 4 gun, and 
we remained three hours under the most terrible fire. 

" In five minutes I had lost two complete detach- 
ments, and only Gunner Lodge and myself were left 
to work the two guns, he at one and I at the other. 



350 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

"We remained at the guns, loading, laying, and 
firing by ourselves, and brought both guns out of 
action by ourselves. We have been recommended for 
the Victoria Cross." 

The Cape Town correspondent of the London Times, 
discussing the affair, says : 

" All the details only serve to bring out clearly the 
marvellous cleverness of the Boers no less than the 
marvellous carelessness and improvidence of the British 
officers, whom, it would seem, no series of disasters will 
ever teach to keep wide awake. General Buller's anx- 
ious inquiry, whether British officers will ever learn the 
value of scouting, comes back with enforced emphasis 
to the British public to-day, in receipt of the tidings 
that a convoy with guns has walked deliberately into a 
Boer ambush," 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

APRIL NEWS. 

'T^HE disaster of Sannas Post had much to do with 

-*- delaying Lord Roberts's advance, and because of 
a second disaster following close upon the heels of the 
first, together with an unexpected move on the part 
of the Boers, was he forced to remain in the vicinity 
of Bloemfontein. 

The April news shall be told as it was received at 
Cape Town, — in a fragmentary manner, it is true, but 
such as enables the reader better to understand what 
was done, than if any attempt was made to follow the 
course of each division of the army. 

April I. At the beginning of the month General 
Tucker's division was strongly occupying the Boer 
camp at Karee Siding, with the way open to 
Brandfort, which town had been evacuated by the 
Boers. 

Kenhardt was formally re-annexed to Cape Colony 
to-day amidst the cheers of the assembled troops. 

Six hundred Barkly refugees sent back from Cape 
Town are stranded, the Kimberley military authorities 
refusing assistance to allow them to proceed. 

351 



352 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

The departure of the transports with the Boer 
prisoners, for St. Helena, has been delayed in con- 
sequence of the increased sickness among the prison- 
ers. Three died to-day and twelve have died during 
the week. Arrangements are being made to prevent 
overcrowding. The prisoners do not complain of their 
treatment or their food. Many of General Cronje's 
men when captured were completely worn out with 
the hardships they had undergone, and little strength 
was left them to fight disease. Moreover, the con- 
finement on shipboard is very irksome to men who 
have been accustomed to outdoor life. 

April 2. The Boers are still occupying the Bloem- 
fontein water-works, which the British shelled yester- 
day afternoon, the Boers replying. ^ 

The defenders of Mafeking made a sortie to-day, 
but were speedily driven back. 

The garrison at Mafeking is suffering severely from 
lack of bread, and a mixture of oats, bran, and mealies 
is doing duty for the article, which is described as 
" coarse in substance, of the colour of gingerbread, 
and of the consistency of Norway pine." 

April J. A despatch from Pretoria announces the 
arrival there of twenty-eight prisoners, mostly residents 
of Ladybrand, who were seized when the Boers forced 
the British to evacuate that place. 

This evening General Cronje, Colonel Schiel, and 
one thousand Boer prisoners sailed for St. Helena. 

April /. At Reddersburg, thirty miles south of 



APRIL NEWS. 353 

Bloemfontein, five British companies fell into a Boer 
trap on the third, and were captured to-day. Details 
of the disaster are given elsewhere. 

There are numerous indications that, in pursuance 
of their boast that they will recapture Bloemfontein, 
the Boers are trying to surround the town and to cut 
the British line of communication to the south. Large 
forces are reported east and south, which are supposed 
to be making for the railway. They still hold Thaba 
N'Chu and the water- works. Lord Roberts is com- 
pleting his concentration. Four 4.7 guns and four 
naval 12-pounders have been mounted on kopjes com- 
manding the plain. The cavalry camp has been re- 
moved to a better position, northeast of the city. 
Special precautions are being taken to protect the 
railway southward. Several arrests have been made, 
in the town, of persons suspected of giving information 
to the Boers. The railway to the north is in posses- 
sion of the British as far as Naroe Siding. 

The permanent bridge at Modder River station has 
been finished, and the first train passed over it yester- 
day. 

A despatch has just been received from Lord Me- 
thuen in which he stated that on his march from 
Kimberley, while about nine miles from Boshof, this 
afternoon, he encountered a body of seventy Boers 
posted on a kopje. After about four hours' fighting, 
the little force surrendered. 

Among the killed was Gen, De Villebois Mareuil, 



354 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the distinguished French tactician and strategist. The 
prisoners included many Frenchmen. 

April ^. General Clements's division, six thousand 
strong, has arrived from the southward and encamped 
five miles north of Bloemfontein, after a continuous 
march of a fortnight. 

An unimportant engagement, lasting several hours, 
was fought this afternoon at Bosman's Kop between 
the Boer and British outposts. 

Doctor Jameson, the leader of the famous raid in the 
Transvaal territory, has arrived here. He is very ill. 

April 6. A despatch from Aliwal North says : 
"The Royal Irish Rifles, which have been falling back 
from Rouxville, arrived here safely to-night. Their 
retirement was covered by a detachment sent by Gen- 
eral Brabant. Lieutenant Bonsey and two men of Bra- 
bant's detachment of the Border Horse are missing. 
Two Boers were killed in the rear-guard action. A 
strong Boer commando is reported to be at Walsekop, 
fourteen miles west of Rouxville." 

A despatch from Bloemfontein states : 

" No anxiety need be felt as to the security of Bloem- 
fontein, although the enemy may succeed in destroying 
telegraphic communication, and even in cutting the 
railway for a brief period. 

"A number of civilians, including Lady Bentinck 
and Lady Edward Cecil, who arrived here recently 
from Cape Town, left to-day in compliance with a 
general order issued by the authorities." 



APRIL NEWS. 355 

A runner, who has just arrived at Lorenzo Marquez, 
from Sobobo's kraal, Swaziland, says Sobobo has been 
killed, and his women have been tied up with ropes. 
Unrest is increasing in the country, which is in a most 
unsettled state, bordering on a reign of terror, in the 
absence of "white man's law." Many natives have 
been threatened, and in one district they have been 
completely killed off. 

A messenger from Bremersdorp, Swaziland, says 
that soldiers are making presents to the queen, and 
are seeking permission to pass through Swaziland 
armed. M'Quezie, the famous old Swazi chief, and 
two women of his household, with their infants, have 
all been assegaied at M'Quezie's kraal. The kraal 
was sacked and burned, and the chief's son captured. 
Numerous bands are marching about — natives and 
Swazi — and marauding in every direction. 

General Villebois Mareuil was buried to-day at Boshof 
with military honours. 

The following despatch comes from Bloemfontein, 
under date of to-day : 

"All is quiet here. Remounts and reinforcements 
are arriving, and preparations are being made to deal 
with the enemy. Many of the historic regiments, like 
the Scots Greys, the Inniskillen Dragoons, and the 
Lancers, cannot muster one hundred mounted men, 
while artillery horses are very scarce. 

" The enemy has now been entirely cleared out from 
the position they lately occupied north of Glen, and 



356 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

the British force there is being considerably augmented. 
Lord Kitchener commands the railway to the south, 
and our positions are secure against interruption. The 
troops are all in good spirits, though badly in need of 
clothing and boots. 

" The Ninth Division, under General Colville, marched 
on the 4th in the direction of Rietfontein, but arrived 
too late to disperse a gathering of Boer leaders, who 
had assembled there for conference. The division 
returned here to-day. 

" The Boers have shot a Free State Burgher named 
McCaskill, who was employed by the British as a con- 
ductor of the wagons which the Boers captured at the 
Bloemfontein water-works. General Gatacre has retired 
to Bethany on orders from headquarters to guard the 
railway." 

The Boer artillery about Mafeking is well horsed. 
Their pom-poms are mounted on light, four-wheeled car- 
riages, each drawn by four smart horses, in marked 
contrast with those Colonel Plumer fought with at 
Crocodile Pool. The Boers, too, are well mounted and 
well dressed, and have fit-looking patrols. The grain 
and other crops in the district are excellent, so the 
Transvaalers are not likely to suffer from scarcity of 
food for a long time. Plumer's little force is now 
strongly entrenched northwest of Mafeking. 

Api'il y. The following despatch has just been 
received from Bloemfontein : 

"The Boers are reported in force to the south. 



APRIL NEWS. 357 

threatening the railroad, which, however, is strongly- 
protected. " 

British pickets at Springfield, eight miles distant, 
were attacked to-day by Boers advancing from the 
water-works. 

Advices from Mafeking state that a band of armed 
Kaffirs left that town through the Burgher lines, during 
the night of April 5th, and were followed and sur- 
rounded in the bush, when they were shelled by a 
Maxim-Nordenfeldt gun. The Boers then stormed the 
Kaffir position, killing thirty-one. The Kaffirs fought 
stubbornly. 

It appears that no fewer than thirty Boers escaped 
from the old camp at Simonstown last evening. Nine 
have since been recaptured. The prisoners effected 
their escape by cutting a fence under the sentry bridge, 
while the sentry was above. A driver of a sanitary 
cart was offered two hundred pounds to carry off the 
prisoners. A new tunnel has been discovered in the 
direction opposite to the former one. It had been 
completed to within five feet of the point for a breach. 

When the Boers were driven out of Ladybrand, Thaba 
N'Chu, and other points of eastern Cape Colony, the 
Basutos showed a pleasant face to the British, but now 
that the British have been in turn driven out of these 
places, the natives are beginning to look ugly, and if 
Wepener should be retaken by the Boers, all the 
authorities agree that the result would be decidedly 
unpleasant to the British. 



358 FIGHTING FOR TJHE EMPIRE. 

Yesterday evening the British shelled Fourteen 
Streams, which was occupied by a force of Boers. 
This morning the Boers placed in position a big gun, 
which they fired effectively. A fusilade of mortars 
followed at intervals throughout the day. The Brit- 
ish brought lyddite and shrapnel-shells into the Boer 
.position, finally silencing the enemy's fire and driving 
off the snipers. 

The prisoners and guns taken in the Saunas Post, or 
Korn Spruit, fight have arrived at Pretoria. The vic- 
tory has created a most inspiring impression among the 
commandoes in the field. Y.ive hundred British subjects 
have been ordered to leave Johannesburg, and to-day 
one hundred were ordered to quit Pretoria. 

The War Office issued, this afternoon, a return of the 
total British casualties up to April ist. 

Killed in action, 211 officers and 1,960 men. 

Died of wounds, 48 officers and 465 men. 

Missing and prisoners, 168 officers and 3,722 men. 

Died of disease, 47 officers and 1,485 men. 

Accidental deaths, 3 officers and 34 men. 

Repatriated invalids, 288 officers and 4,934 men. 

Total, 13,365, exclusive of the sick and wounded now 
in the hospital. 

To the War Office return of casualties must be added 
the losses of last week, and the wounded, aggregating 
about 10,000 men, making a grand total of upward of 
23,000 officers and men put out of action. 

April 8. It is evident that General Brabant has been 



APRIL NEWS. 359 

cut off from communication with Lord Roberts. A 
despatch from near Wepener, just received, states : 

"The garrison is practically isolated. However, the 
lines are enormously strong, and the force is fully pro- 
visioned. Desultory firing between outposts continues. 
A commando, estimated at two thousand, with four guns, 
went into laager last night, five miles from here, in the 
direction of Dewetsdorp." 

April p. An engagement took place to-day at Wepe- 
ner. The Boers' Vickers-Maxim did considerable exe- 
cution at first, but the British guns soon got the range, 
and did great havoc. The fighting was severe and lasted 
all day long. The Boers received a check. The casu- 
alties were rather heavy on both sides. Another com- 
mando is advancing toward Wepener from Dewetsdorp. 
The Rouxville commando has gone to Wepener. 

The British loss is eleven killed and forty-one 
wounded. 

A despatch from Aliwal North, dated at 3.30 this 
afternoon, contains the following : 

" Small bodies of the enemy have been seen across 
the river near the town of Odendoalstroom. The ferry 
has been destroyed. There is a Boer commando of six 
hundred at Rouxville. A larger one has left Smith- 
field for Wepener. There are two commandoes around 
Wepener, but thus far there has been only outpost fir- 
ing. A lieutenant of Brabant's Horse has been captured 
at Rouxville by Boers who had previously surrendered. 
The landrost is also said to have broken his oath." 



360 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

A detachment of Cape artillery, with three guns, and 
a squadron of Queenstown mounted volunteers arrived 
to-day. Many Boers, who had already taken the non- 
combatants' oath, are rejoining their old commandoes. 

An intercepted Boer despatch from Lermokap, a town 
southeast of Bloemfontein, says : 

" The Boer commando which is still in the southern 
district, and which it was feared had been cut off, has 
rendered a good account of itself with the Basutoland 
police, who had invaded the Orange Free State. 

"Four British scouts captured to-day say that 
Bloemfontein is hard pressed for water. They add 
that all the private wells were guarded, and civilians 
were not permitted to use them until the troops were 
supplied. 

" Commandant De Wet has received a report that 
the British who fled from Smithfield southward were 
severely punished by the Burghers of Rouxville. News 
received here from Johannesburg drift says a British 
force of about one hundred men, mainly composed of 
Brabant's Horse, with General Brabant commanding, is 
surrounded at Robinson's Mills with a remote chance 
of relief or effective resistance." 

The British force reported in the despatch from Ler- 
mokop to be surrounded at Robinson's Mills is probably 
the force of colonial troops previously referred to as 
surrounded by the Boers near Wepener. These British 
troops are not commanded by General Brabant in per- 
son, but are under the command of Colonel Dalgety, 



APRIL NEWS. 361 

General Brabant was last reported at Aliwal North with 
General Kitchener. 

Lord Methuen's force is encamped at Zwartzkopfon- 
tein, ten miles east of Boshof. 

Fifty-two prisoners, who were captured at Boshof, have 
arrived at Kimberley. Only three are Dutchmen, the 
others being Frenchmen, Germans, and Russians. 

Remounts are continually arriving at Bloemfontein, 
but competent authorities estimate that the wastage of 
horse monthly, by the British forces in South Africa, 
must be calculated at not less than five thovisand. 

April JO. News from a Boer source at Wepener, 
officially communicated, says that four Boer guns have 
been disabled, and four commandants killed or wounded. 
This afternoon the British made a sortie, capturing a 
Boer gun and taking some prisoners. The colonial 
troops are still holding their own splendidly. The 
Boer attack yesterday was not very serious. The 
British are carefully husbanding their ammunition, and 
their guns are making excellent practice. The Boers 
are short of ammunition. 

Lord Roberts has just telegraphed to the War 
Office: 

" The enemy has been very active during the past 
few days. One commando is now on the north bank 
of the Orange River, not far from Aliwal North, while 
another is attacking Wepener. The garrison there is 
holding out bravely, and inflicted serious loss on the 
Boers yesterday. Major Springe, of the Cape Mounted 



362 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Rifles, was killed. No other casualties have been re- 
ported as yet. The troops are being moved up rapidly. 

"A patrol of six men of the 7th Dragoon Guards, 
under Lieutenant Wetherley, which had been reported 
missing since April 7th, has returned safely." 

This morning at Elandslaagte, while the British 
troops were drilling, the Boers, under Gen. Louis Botha, 
began shelling. One private was killed and another 
wounded before the men could be removed beyond 
range. After three hours' bombardment, the Boers' 
fire slackened, and the Burghers cleared from a kopje 
on the right, when a British shell lit on the spot occu- 
pied by their gun. Another command was seen moving 
toward the British left, apparently with the intention 
of flanking them, but the British shells forced them to 
retire. The British advance pickets were continually 
sniped. r^ 

Heavy fighting was continued at Wepener this morn- 
ing. 

The British naval guns have commenced bombarding 
the Boer positions between Sunday's River and Big- 
garsberg. 

The remainder of the Boer prisoners that were on 
board the transports off Simonstown, about two thou- 
sand, have been transferred to the mainland. General 
Cronje and his companions arrived at St. Helena to-day. 
They will be landed to-morrow. 

From Bloemfontein the following despatch has just 
been received : 



APRIL NEWS. 363 

" The water-supply continues satisfactory. Entrench- 
ing is proceeding vigorously on the hills commanding 
Bloemfontein, civilian labour being utilised. Prepara- 
tions are being made to hold Bloemfontein against sur- 
prises. Lord Kitchener has been given an important 
duty, being responsible for the protection of the railway, 
while Lord Roberts is waiting for remounts and winter 
clothing for the troops, whose thin cotton khaki uni- 
forms and boots are worn out." 

April 'I I. Heavy cannonading is going on at Wepe- 
ner to-day. The town is regularly invested, and Col- 
onel Dalgety, despite the strength of his position, has 
all the work in hand which he can well look after. One 
of the Boers' big guns was knocked over to-day, and 
the indications are that the garrison will hold its own. 
Boer despatches claim that the bombardment continues 
favourable to the Federals. 

A despatch from Elandslaagte says : 

"Fighting was renewed beyond Elandslaagte this 
afternoon. The Boers steadily advanced upon the 
British positions. There was a continuous rifle fire, 
and the Boer big guns were in action. The British 
replied effectively, and after two hours' fighting the 
Boers were checked. Last night the Boers set fire 
to the grass on two hills almost on their extreme 
wings. The motive has not been ascertained, but the 
incident disclosed the fact that their position extends 
over fully fifteen miles in a continuous row of hills, 
from Jenos Kop, on the British left, to a kopje com- 



364 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

manding Sunday's River Bridge on the British 
right." 

A despatch from Mafeking this afternoon reports a 
terrific bombardment of the town this forenoon, A 
gloomy account of the depression due to the probabil- 
ity of the siege lasting until the end of May is given, 
and the despatch concludes with the statement : 

" It is hard to accept Colonel Baden-Powell's efforts 
to cheer the people by optimistic predictions in the 
absence of any sign of release, particularly in' view of 
the fact that the daily rations are six ounces of gritty 
oat bread, one pound of bully beef, and one quart of 
skillet." 

General Gatacre has been recalled to England. 

Apidl 12. The siege of Wepener still continues, and 
the Boers appear bent on forcing the fighting. 

April I J. Lord Roberts telegraphed the War Ofifice 
to-day as follows : 

" The enemy's movements south have been checked. 
Wepener is still surrounded, but the little garrison is 
holding out well. Troops are moving to their assistance. 
The Boers tried to rush Colonel Dalgety's left front, 
but retired after fighting an hour. Their attack is 
apparently weakening, although large numbers of fresh 
little schanzes are visible along the enemy's position." 

The British trenches at Warrenton are being bom- 
barded ; but without any serious effect. 

General Settle reports from Kenhardt, that two hun- 
dred Transvaalers made a determined attack to-day on 



April news. 365 

Dopaspoort, held by a party of Orpen's Horse. The 
British losses were two killed and one wounded. The 
enemy's losses must have been heavy, as they applied 
for doctors and an ambulance. 

A patrol of Royal Irish, among whom was Lord Ross- 
lyn, has been captured thirty miles southeast of Bloem- 
fontein. Lord Rosslyn has been sent to Kroonstad. 

Sir Godfrey Lagden, British resident commissioner, 
returned here yesterday from the scene of operations 
near Wepener. He and the paramount chief have sta- 
tioned three thousand armed natives to resist possible 
Boer encroachments. The orders of the resident com- 
missioner are that the Basutos are not to be allowed to 
cross the Free State frontier on any pretext whatever. 
Two natives, who crossed and looted an abandoned Boer 
farm, are now in custody. Colonel Dalgety's position 
is strong and well chosen, but he is completely sur- 
rounded. The Boers have their backs against Basu- 
toland, and if they stay much longer they will be 
hemmed in. The British operations are keenly watched 
from the neighbouring height. Shelling and sniping 
have been going on steadily during the last six days. 
Colonel Dalgety's guns are admirably served, and there 
is no waste of ammunition. The Boers, when they see 
the electric flash of the cordite, bolt into their holes or 
behind walls. So near are the Boers and the Basuto 
guards, that they converse. The ambulances are close 
to the border, but the killed and wounded are not re- 
moved until nightfall, in order to conceal the number of 



366 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

casualties. The Boers are fatigued and their horses are 
tired and footsore. 

April 7^. Colonel Dalgety telegraphed yesterday 
from Wepener : " All well. Enemy apparently slack- 
ening attack." 

General Chermside's division is encamped seventeen 
miles east of the railway. Boers are supposed to be in 
the vicinity, but an attack by them is improbable. 

It is officially reported that the British losses at 
Wepener, in four days' fighting, were eighteen men 
killed, and 132 wounded. 

General Cronje and his wife, and three members of 
the staff of the former Boer commandant, who, with 
other prisoners, arrived at St. Helena on the Niobe and 
Milwaukee, April loth, were landed to-day, accompanied 
by Colonel Reefe. The other prisoners will disembark 
Monday. 

The Royal Irish Rifles have been forced to evacuate 
Rouxville. 

The transport Lake Erie, with upwards of five hun- 
dred Transvaal prisoners, including French, German, 
and Russian members of the foreign legion captured 
at Boshof, sails for St. Helena to-day, 

April i^. General Brabant has reoccupied Rouxville. 

Mr. Frank Smith, the well-known mine owner, fell 
into the hands of the Boers while driving from Barkly 
West toward the Frank Smith diamond mine. 

Colonel Schiel and two other Boer prisoners were 
landed at St. Helena to-day, and sent to the citadel. 



APRIL NEWS. 367 

in consequence of an attempt to escape. It appears 
that Colonel Schiel bribed a boatman to take a letter to 
the Dutch cruiser, but the boatman, by mistake, took it 
to the British cruiser Niobe. A large knife was found 
in possession of one of the three. Colonel Schiel walked 
to the citadel, declining a carriage that was placed .at 
his disposal. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

REDDERSBURG. 

ANOTHER Boer trap, another disaster for the Brit- 
ish forces, and five companies of British troops in 
the hands of the Boers ! 

Lord Roberts gave an outline of the story in his 
despatch sent from Bloemfontein, April 5th, in which 
he says : " Another unfortunate affair has occurred, 
resulting, I fear, in the capture of a party of in- 
fantry, consisting of three companies of the Royal 
Irish Fusiliers and two companies of the 9th Regi- 
ment of mounted infantry, near Reddersburg, a little 
eastward of Bethany railroad station, within a few miles 
of this place. 

"They were surrounded by a stronger force of the 
enemy, with four or five guns. The detachment held 
out from before noon, April 3d, until 9 a. m., April 4th, 
and then apparently surrendered, for it is reported that 
the firing ceased at that time. 

" Immediately after I heard the news, during the 
afternoon of April 3d, I ordered Gatacre to proceed 
from Springfontein, his present headquarters, to Red- 
dersburg, with all possible speed, and I despatched the 

368 



REDDERSBURG. 369 

Cameron Highlanders hence to Bethany. He arrived 
at Reddersburg at 10.30 yesterday morning, without op- 
position, but could get no news of the missing detach- 
ment. There can be no doubt the whole party has been 
made prisoners." 

Here is the story as told by one of the Boers : " Five 
hundred Irish Rifles entered Dewetsdorp on April ist, 
under Captain McWhinnie, and demanded the surren- 
der of the town, which was readily given. Captain Mc- 
Whinnie was surprised to hear that a Boer force was 
approaching, and he promptly retreated on Redders- 
burg. General De Wet, fresh from his brilliant victory 
at Sannas Post, followed the retreat along a range of 
kopjes for hours. The two opposing forces went into 
camp on different sides of the range. General De Wet 
knew all about the British positions and movements, but 
the Irish were quite unaware of the proximity of the 
Boers. They blundered again, as at Sannas Post, and 
the scouts were not alert. 

<' Before sunset on Tuesday, De Wet had the British 
force in his power, after an engagement which lasted 
all the afternoon. The Irish made a most brilliant 
defence, but their fate was never in doubt. During 
the afternoon De Wet sent eight hundred Burghers to 
cut off their retreat, and he then moved forward a small 
force of Boers to the top of the kopjes held by the 
British. The latter boldly attacked, and then De Wet's 
plan was suddenly developed. 

"The British soon found themselves surrounded. 



370 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

They had, indeed, fallen into a beautiful trap, for they 
were commanded at every point by the Boer guns, while 
their force was separated on two kopjes, with the Boers 
between. At sunrise on Wednesday, the Boer guns 
commenced to hurl shell upon the devoted Irishmen, 
who, however, refused to surrender, but fought with the 
utmost fierceness for three hours. At ten o'clock, how- 
ever, the British commanding officer saw that further 
resistance would only involve a useless waste of life, as 
his military position was quite hopeless, and he there- 
fore hoisted a white flag. 

" Twelve officers sorrowfully handed over their swords 
to General De Wet, and 459 non-commissioned officers 
and men surrendered. All the prisoners were forth- 
with sent to Thaba N'Chu under escort, and General 
De Wet continued his march toward Wepener." 

A British officer thus tells the story : 

" The Royal Irish Rifles had been marching in the 
eastern part of the Free State, collecting arms, and 
were returning to Bethany, Tuesday, when they were 
intercepted by a Boer commando, which had placed 
three guns in position. 

" The Irish entrenched themselves while the mounted 
infantry scouted along both flanks, only to find escape 
impossible. The Boers opened with gun and rifle fire. 
The British replied sparingly with rifle fire, husbanding 
their cartridges in the hope that help would arrive. 

" Gradually the Boers drew into closer quarters. They 
fired intermittently during Tuesday night, but did not 



REDDERSBURG. 37 1 

attempt to rush the British position until Wednesday, 
when the Irishmen, who had fought tenaciously, were 
suffering severely from want of food and water. By 
this time also the Rifles had expended their last cart- 
ridges. Finding that there were no signs of succour, 
they surrendered, having fought nearly thirty hours. 
They lost ten killed and many wounded. Among the 
captured is Captain Tenant, General Gatacre's chief 
intelligence officer." 

The following from Lord Roberts to the War Office : 
" The casualties at Reddersburg were : two officers 
killed, two wounded, and eight captured ; eight non- 
commissioned officers and men killed, thirty-three 
wounded ; the rest were captured. Our strength was 
167 mounted infantry, and 424 infantry. The enemy 
was said to be thirty-two hundred strong, with five 
guns." 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 



yfPRIL i6. A despatch from Ladysmith this 
morning states: "Native scouts have just re- 
ported that the Boers in the Elandslaagte district have 
retired beyond the Biggarsberg. Other information 
tends to confirm the reports that the Boers have suc- 
ceeded in blowing up three important collieries near 
Wessels Nek, completely destroying the engine-houses 
and plant." 

April ly. Lord Roberts telegraphed the War Office 
to-day : " Our force at Wepener is still surrounded, 
but it is reported that the enemy are attacking in a very 
half-hearted manner, and are anxious about their com- 
munications, hearing that forces are approaching Wepe- 
ner from two directions, one under General Rundle, 
via Reddersburg, and another under General Brabant, 
with General Hart's brigade in support, via Rouxville." 

There are over two thousand cases of dysentery and 
enteric fever in the British field-hospitals in the Free 
State. 

April i8. A correspondent with General Chermside 
reports that the Third Division has advanced eight miles 

372 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 373 

east of Reddersburg, and gone into camp where the 
Irish Rifles surrendered. Four hundred Boers had just 
evacuated the position. General Chermside had no 
further contact with the Boers. 

The British patrols at Elandslaagte to-day discovered 
another party of Boers on the British left, in the same 
position from which the enemy recently fired on the 
South African Horse. In this instance, however, there 
was no firing. Native deserters confirm previous state- 
ments with respect to the fortifications and strength of 
the Boers along Biggarsberg range. The enemy has 
recently established a large hospital, which is already 
filled, and similar hospitals are being established by 
them at the various railway towns. 

An official list of the British losses at Wepener, from 
April 9th to April i8th, shows: killed, three officers 
and eighteen men ; wounded, fourteen officers and 
eighty-six men. 

April ig. General Chermside and General Rundle 
are moving over sodden roads. Rain was still falling 
when they went into camp this afternoon, eighteen 
miles west of Dewetsdorp. They hold the railway on 
the southern frontier of the Free State with twenty 
thousand. How many are going with the generals, who 
will engage the Boers at Wepener, is not mentioned 
in the latest despatch from Oorlogspoort, where the 
British bivouacked last night. The field-telegraph ends 
there. To-day the Boers still have Colonel Dalgety 
closely penned. 



374 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

April 20. Two reports to-day regarding Wepener. 
The first from British sources by way of Maseru : 

" The Boers continue to move freely around Wepener, 
going in all directions from which relief columns are 
expected. Desultory cannon fire and sniping have 
continued all day, with scarcely any reply from Colonel 
Dalgety's force. The Caledon River rose considerably 
during the night. This made the Boers uneasy, as 
they fear separation. Some reinforcements have ar- 
rived for them, coming directly from Thaba N'Chu, 
or that direction. Our casualties up to date are be- 
lieved to have been twenty-five killed, and one hundred 
and ten wounded. Owing to the heavy rain and clouds, 
heliographing has been impossible for the last two 
days. The Boers who lately surrendered in the We- 
pener district have been forced again, with violence, 
to fight. Ten of their leaders have been arrested. 
President Steyn has issued orders to the Boer forces 
to hold tight to the grain district of Wepener, Lady- 
brand, and Fricksburg, from which they draw their 
supplies, and also to prevent the British forces from 
getting the rich supplies now in those districts." 

The second despatch is from Boer sources, and 
comes by way of Pretoria : 

" President Kruger has received through President 
Steyn an official report sent by General De Wet, under 
date of April 20th, to the effect that the latter still 
surrounds General Brabant's colonials at Wepener, and 
that he has captured eleven prisoners, including the 



April news continued. 375 

chief artillery officer. The report adds that the British 
coming from Aliwal North are destroying farmhouses 
on the way." 

From Dewetsdorp comes the story of a British 
check, according to the official Boer report, which 
is as follows : 

"When General De Wet's scouts announced, Thurs- 
day evening, that General Kelly-Kenny's and General 
Rundle's columns were advancing on Dewetsdorp, he 
ordered " saddle up," and moved with the Fricksburg 
commando and Generals Cronje, Olivier, and Wessels 
to intercept their march. 

" This was successful Friday morning. While the 
British occupied the grassy hills at Taljards farm, and 
De Wet those immediately southwest of Dewetsdorp, 
facing the British, Cronje delayed occupying an im- 
portant hill, which the British took at noon. At nine 
o'clock rifle firing commenced briskly. The British 
had made trenches and thrown up schanzes. At eleven 
o'clock the Free State cannon and Maxim guns opened 
fire, and the former constantly dropped shells into 
the British camp. Darkness stopped the fighting until 
half an hour later, when the Bethlehem men on the 
extreme right heard some British in their immediate 
vicinity, and opened fire. Their commandant stepped 
out into the darkness, and discovered a wounded man 
and fifteen other British, who declared they had lost 
their way while searching for water." 

Lord Roberts's report of the same action says : " Run- 



37^ FIGHTING FOR THE EMflRE. 

die's force came in contact with the enemy yesterday, 
four miles southwest from Dewetsdorp. They occupied 
strong positions covering the town. The yeomanry 
and mounted infantry seized another position, which 
enabled Rundle to drive the enemy off and occupy the 
high ground the Boers had been holding." 

At midday General Methuen's field force at Swartz- 
kopfontein was ordered to return to Boshof. Its con- 
voy extended over six miles. The escort took up a 
position on a hill commanding the road just in the nick 
of time, as a force of two thousand Boers, with two 
guns and a pom-pom, suddenly appeared in the vicinity 
and opened a very heavy fire. The British, however, 
held them in check until the column reached a point 
of safety, when they retired. The Boers fought de- 
terminedly, and must have suffered considerably, as 
they once advanced to within three hundred yards of 
the hill, whence a concealed detachment of the British 
opened a heavy fusilade on them. 

Major-General Schalk-Burger has been gazetted vice- 
president, in succession to the late General Joubert, 
and Gen. Louis Botha has been gazetted acting com- 
mandant-general, succeeding General Joubert in com- 
mand of the Transvaal forces. 

April 21. The fighting which began yesterday at 
Dewetsdorp was continued this morning. The Boer 
report says : " At daybreak thirteen more British 
strayed into camp. An hour later the British started 
an outflanking movement, sending a large body of 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 377 

horse to the hills south of Dewetsdorp. General De 
Wet immediately despatched General Wessels, with 
three cannon, to head off the enemy, and the latter 
was forced to retm'n to camp. At the main position 
a constant cannonade was maintained, but there was 
little rifle fire. The British camp was observed at 
sunset to be hastily packing up, and was subsequently 
removed behind the hills, the troops in the schanzes 
firing volley after volley to distract attention from 
the camp, which was seriously damaged by the Free 
State shells. The prisoners declared that the British 
numbered twenty-five hundred men. Lieutenant 
Losberg, of the artillery, was shot through the head, 
leg, and arms, but continued at the guns, and Field 
Cornet Engelbrecht was killed while standing up and 
giving orders. The loss during the two days was three 
killed and twelve wounded. The British loss is un- 
known, but where their right flank was driven back, 
to-day, a number of dead were left on the field. Gen- 
eral Kelly-Kenny's left was beaten back yesterday, 
and his right to-day." 

Lord Roberts telegraphed : " Rundle advanced this 
morning and is now engaging with the enemy. Our 
casualties yesterday were two men severely and Lieu- 
tenant O'Connor and seven men slightly wounded." 

This from Elandslaagte : " A commando of one thou- 
sand Boers came through Wessels Nek this morning. 
They crossed Sunday's Bridge and advanced to the 
crest of a ridge, but fell back when they saw the 



378 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

mounted infantry, who opened fire. Later the Boers 
shelled Elandslaagte colliery. Ten shells were sent to 
the mine, but did no damage. The British guns opened 
fire. The naval brigade on the right sent a few shells 
in the direction of the Boers' guns, which were posted 
on a long ridge, four thousand yards to the right of the 
bridge. They were difficult to locate, but the Boers 
were seen retreating over the hill toward Wessels Nek. 
On the left, the squadron of African Horse was engaged 
all day in exchanging shots with the Boers. No casu- 
alties are reported. Late in the day the Boers showed 
activity in the trenches on the ridges in front of Elands- 
laagte. A few 4.7 shells forced them to relinquish their 
works." 

This regarding Wepener : " Four Boer guns have 
been hard at work all day on Colonel Dalgety's posi- 
tion. The British guns have replied at intervals. Gen- 
eral Brabant's relief force is reported to be to-day in 
the neighbourhood of Bushman's Kop, twenty miles 
from Wepener. 

" General Brabant's advanced guard reached Bush- 
man's Kop this evening. The Boers hold a strong 
position there, with two guns." 

This from Warrenton : " There has been intermittent 
and ineffective sniping by the Boers, who also fired a 
few shells, both during the day and the night, at the 
station." 

April 22. An engagement was opened at sunrise 
this morning on Bushman's Kop, with heavy rifle fire. 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 379 

At 6.30 A. M. cannonading began and continued for 
several hours. General Brabant's force outflanked 
the Boers' position., but the movement had not been 
completed when darkness fell. 

The action at Leeuw Kop : On the 21st, Lord Rob- 
erts despatched the First Division, under General Pole- 
Carew, and two brigades of cavalry, under General 
French, from Bloemfontein to assist General Rundle. 
At an early hour to-day the cavalry came under a 
heavy fire from a pom-pom on a range adjoining Leeuw 
Kop. Unable to continue its march to the south. Gen- 
eral Dickson's brigade fell back to the north to await 
the infantry attack. The flanking movement having 
failed. General Pole-Carew, with General Stephenson's 
brigade, advanced in crescent form from the west and 
south with the object of enveloping the kopjes. The 
Welsh, Warwickshire, Essex, and Yorkshire regiments 
advanced in extended line, covering the west, while the 
Guards Brigade took up a position to the south with two 
field-batteries and naval guns. Sheltered by the rocks, 
the enemy opened a heavy fire from rifles and a pom- 
pom. The British advanced over the open ground by a 
succession of short rushes, falling prone while pouring 
in their volleys. The approach of darkness threatened 
to leave the Boers in possession ; but, just before sun- 
set, the Essex regiment pressed forward and drove the 
last of the enemy from Paarde kraal, a bold spur of 
Leeuw Kop. The British loss was one officer and two 
men killed, and nineteen men wounded. 



380 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Heliograph communication has been estabhshed with 
General Rundle, who reports twenty-five men missing 
since last night. Forty-three were sent out with wood 
to an outpost after dark, and only eighteen returned. 

General Kelly-Kenny's artillery at Dewetsdorp in- 
dulged in a mild bombardment of General De Wet's 
position, the fire lasting through the morning. 

The scarcity of water is very pressing at Bloemfon- 
tein. A desperate attempt was made by a large British 
force in two columns, to-day, to recapture the water- 
works. Their right flank was beaten back, however, 
a party of fifty were cut off, and twelve men were 
killed. 

The most hopeful advice from Mafeking is that the 
garrison will be barely able to hold out for a month. 
The fever is spreading. 

April 2^. Fighting began early this morning at 
Bushman's Kop. The colonial division, under General 
Brabant, advanced cautiously, followed and supported 
by General Hart's infantry brigade. It was found that 
the Boers had evacuated their position on Bushman's 
Kop during the night. A running fight has been pro- 
ceeding throughout the day, the British gradually ad- 
vancing and the Boers losing ground. The British 
casualties so far are twenty-five wounded. The Elev- 
enth Division, under General Pole-Carew, and General 
French's two brigades of cavalry, reached Tweede 
Celuk yesterday afternoon without having met serious 
opposition. 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 381 

Mounted infantry under Gen. Ian Hamilton occupied 
the water-works at Sannas Post. As the enemy are 
holding the neighbouring hills in some strength, the 
Ninth Division, consisting of General Smith-Dorrien's 
and General MacDonald's brigades, has been despatched 
to support Hamilton. 

A British column in the direction of Bultfontein and 
Hoopstad has been beaten back through Boshof. The 
Federals sustained two casualties, and the British had 
twelve men killed and a number wounded. 

The Boers are displaying renewed activity at Wepe- 
ner. Five guns were used freely to-day, from four new 
positions, against the British. Rifle fire from the south 
and west was heavy and continuous. 

Commandant Olivier was wounded in front of Wepe- 
ner this morning. 

Lord Roberts has ordered Lord Methuen to retire 
from Boshof. 

April 24. Lord Roberts has sent the following 
information to the War Office to-day : " Pole-Carew's 
division reached Roode Kop yesterday evening without 
casualties. Its advance was covered by cavalry and 
horse-artillery, which drove back the enemy with heavy 
loss, their dead being left on the ground. The mounted 
troops halted for the night at Grootfontein, and at 7.30 
this morning were crossing the Modder River at Vals- 
bank, in accordance with my instructions to French to 
endeavour to place himself astride the enemy's line of 
retreat. French's arrival near the Modder evidently, how- 



382 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

ever, alarmed the Boers, for they evacuated their strong 
position near Dewetsdorp during the night, and it was 
occupied by Chermside's division this morning. 

" The mounted cavalry under Ian Hamilton drove 
the enemy off the kopjes in the neighbourhood of the 
water-works, without casualties on our side. The High- 
land Brigade marched twenty-four miles yesterday to 
support General Hamilton, and halted for the night at 
Klip kraal, four miles short of Sannas Post, 

" Brabant and Hart are still a few miles short of 
Wepener, and the numbers of the enemy appear to 
have somewhat increased during the last few days. 
But it is not likely there will be much trouble in the 
neighbourhood of Wepener once Dewetsdorp is occu- 
pied by our troops." 

From Wepener : "The Boers severely attacked Colo- 
nel Dalgety's northern position, facing Bokpoort Ridge, 
at ten o'clock this morning, bringing four guns into 
action, under whose fire they made a determined ad- 
vance. The British returned a heavy fire, before which 
the Boers recoiled, afterward extending across the flats, 
and maintaining a continuous long-range fusilade for 
some hours. Late in the evening they began to retire, 
and before midnight five thousand were in full retreat 
along the Ladybrand road. During the siege which 
has thus been raised. Colonel Dalgety's casualties have 
been thirty-three killed and 132 wounded." 

General Maxwell's brigade, formerly General Cherm- 
side's, of the Seventh Division, moved eastward to-day. 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 383 

and seized the hills covering the wagon bridge over the 
Modder River at Krans kraal, an important communica- 
tion much used by the Boers during the last three weeks. 
The only casualty was the capture of one man. 

Lord Roberts has suddenly deployed his army on the 
long front from Karee Siding to Wepener, a distance 
of about seventy miles. 

The Boers are bombarding Mafeking heavily to-day. 

At Pretoria a serious explosion occurred at the Beg- 
bie works, used by the government as an arsenal, late 
this evening. The walls of the building were destroyed, 
and the structures in the neighbourhood are a mass of 
flames. The shrieks of women and children in the 
adjoining streets added to the ghastliness of the scene. 
Ten workmen were killed, and thirty-two injured, includ- 
ing Herr Grunberg, the manager of the works. The 
most important of the machinery was saved. The cause 
of the explosion is unknown. The works employed 
240 persons, mostly French and Italians. 

Commandant Cronje, second son of the famous Boer 
general, reports that with a strong commando he 
attacked the British northeast of Boshof. A heavy 
engagement followed, and the English were driven from 
kopje to kopje. The Federals displayed great courage 
and resolution, and spiritedly chased the enemy in the 
direction of Boshof. Only two Burghers were wounded. 
The British lost fifteen men killed, and left three 
wounded and eight prisoners in the hands of the 
Boers. 



384 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

April 2^. Gen. Ian Hamilton drove the enemy 
off a strong position at Israel's Poort by a well-conceived 
turning movement to-day, which was admirably carried 
out by General Ridley, commander of the 2d Mounted 
Infantry Brigade, and General Smith-Dorrien, com- 
manding the 1 8th Brigade. 

Israel's Poort is about seven miles west of Thaba 
N'Chu, and there three hundred Boers were strongly 
entrenched on two kopjes. The British artillery shelled 
these kopjes all day, from three positions. The Boer 
positions were extremely well chosen, consisting of a 
long range of very precipitous hills, with narrow poorts 
(passes) between, commanding a vast extent of country. 
The mounted infantry made a wide turning movement, 
while the foot infantry advanced, with two thousand 
yards under good shelter. During the afternoon the 
battle became general, and extended over a frontage of 
ten miles. The rifles, Maxim, and artillery firing 
was deafening. 

At three o'clock in the afternoon the place of honour 
was given to the Canadians, who advanced very cleverly 
under their dashing commander. Colonel Otter. The 
Boers reserved their fire until the Canadians had 
reached the wire entanglements. Then they opened 
with a terrific hail of bullets. The Canadians, however, 
had taken good cover, and were not greatly damaged. 
They were ably supported in the assault by the Gra- 
hamstown Horse. Successive rushes brought them 
right up to the kopjes, when Colonel Otter was struck 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 385 

twice, one bullet inflicting a nasty, but not dangerous 
wound in the neck, and the other tearing the badges 
from his shoulder. But he still cheered his men on 
until the kopjes were carried, when the Boers bolted, 
retiring north and east with wagons. The British 
losses were twenty in killed and wounded. 

April 26. Colonel Plumer telegraphs, by way of 
Lorenzo Marquez, that the Boers around Mafeking 
have been gradually reinforced, and their strength is 
estimated at three thousand. Colonel Plumer has suc- 
ceeded in communicating with Mafeking by means of 
carrier pigeons, and is endeavouring to communicate 
with the southern relief column. 

Gen. Ian Hamilton's force is to-day advancing toward 
Thaba N'Chu. 

General French's and General Rundle's forces left 
Dewetsdorp to-day, going in different directions. 

The government inquiry upon the explosion of the 
Begbie works in Pretoria suggests that the explosion 
was a planned outrage. It occurred in a house quite 
separate from the works, and required a much larger 
quantity of nitro-glycerine than could have been found 
on the premises. The factory will be working again in 
a fortnight. The British are suspected of causing the 
disaster by means of a tunnel dug from a house on 
the opposite side of the street. It is feared that the 
Boers will make reprisals on the mines. 

A despatch from Johannesburg says : " Personal ex- 
amination at the scene of the Begbie works' disaster 



386 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

shows that the foundry was destroyed by an explosion 
beyond repair, probably, this side of the declaration of 
peace, although the shell-making plant may be trans- 
ferred to another foundry. It is said that seventeen 
workmen are still unaccounted for. Mr. Begbie is 
charged with murder. He is suspected by the Boers 
of having blown up his works, which cost four hundred 
thousand dollars, in order to revenge himself for the 
affront of being compelled to manufacture munitions of 
war for the enemy." 

A despatch from St. Helena states: "There was an 
exciting time to-day among the prisoners at Deadwood 
when a new batch of prisoners arrived in camp. There 
was great cheering when they were first sighted. Then 
as one and another recognised friends and acquaint- 
ances, shouts of welcome, badinage, and laughter were 
heard. Many Frenchmen were among the prisoners. 
With the captives was a Russian prince." 

April 2 J. Lord Roberts sent the following telegram 
from Bloemfontein to-day : " General French reached 
Thaba N'Chu this morning, with cavalry. He met 
Gen. Ian Hamilton's and General Smith-Dorrien's bri- 
gades. The enemy was still holding the eastern outlet 
of the town, wherefrom General French and General 
Hamilton were proceeding to turn them out. Gen- 
eral Rundle's division was eight miles south of Thaba 
N'Chu last evening." 

Upon the withdrawal of the British demonstrations 
on both flanks of the enemy, the Boers pressed at close 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 387 

quarters, and Kitchener's Horse were unable to evacu- 
ate their position until midnight. 

A despatch from Lorenzo Marquez has the follow- 
ing : " Swaziland runners report that the recent visit to 
the Queen of Swaziland by Sir Ashmead-Bartlett, con- 
servative member of the British House of Commons, has 
not checked the killing. The Swazi queen has placed 
on the throne the former king's brother, a boy of eight- 
een. She argues that as she will have to answer for 
the death of Sebugau, she may as well continue the 
killing, and she has given the chiefs permission to kill 
whom they please throughout the whole of Swaziland." 

April 28. At Thaba N'Chu : To-day's operations 
were intended to drive out or to intercept the Boers. 
They occupied a Made horseshoe of the mountains, 
with the convex face toward the British. General 
Hamilton succeeded in crushing the Boers on the 
right and opening a road for General Dickson's cav- 
alry brigade, which dashed through and hunted the 
enemy from ridge to ridge, shelling them with horse- 
artillery. 

At last the British arrived at the rear of the horse- 
shoe, and the Boers, in parties of two hundred, could be 
seen within the enclosed space, running about like rats 
in a trap. Dickson hoped to make a bag, and he sig- 
nalled to Hamilton regarding the situation. Hamilton 
came at once, bringing up every soldier he could find. 
Suddenly, about 4.30, the Boer army, nearly four thou- 
sand strong, moved out of the horseshoe and began 



388 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

marching northeast. Their order was so regular that 
at first it was beheved they were General Gordon's 
cavalry brigade, but they quickly opened with artillery 
on Dickson. At the same time, the Boers who had 
escaped earlier in the day from the imagined trap 
returned in force on Dickson's left and rear with two 
guns. In these circumstances Dickson resolv^ed to re- 
tire ; and he only just withdrew in time, leaving his 
own mess-cart and the brigade water-carts in the hands 
of the enemy. 

This retreat compromised Hamilton, who, therefore, 
collected his forces and fell back warily into Thaba 
N'Chu, after sharply checking the advancing enemy 
with musketry and artillery fire. Although much am- 
munition was expended on both sides, the losses were 
insignificant, the firing being at great range. 

The Boers attacked the British outposts at Boshof, 
the headquarters of Lord Methuen, to-day, but without 
result. The British guns at Warrenton shelled the 
Boers out of their half-constructed trenches. 

The Bloemfontein correspondent, telegraphing to- 
day, says : " A cavalry reconnoissance twenty-five 
miles northeast encountered four hundred Boers. 
The British drove them out of a kopje north of 
Karee. The British outposts are still harassed by 
moving commandoes. In an outpost affair on Thurs- 
day several Boers were killed." 

April 2g. Lord Roberts sent the following tele- 
gram to-day to the War Office ; *' The Boers have 



APRIL NEWS CONTINUED. 389 

made persistent attacks around Thaba N'Chu to-day, 
but the position which the Eighth (Rundle's) Division 
holds is very strong, and has the assistance of Gor- 
don's and Dickson's brigades, the cavalry under 
French, Smith-Dorrien's infantry brigade, and a body 
of mounted infantry under Ian Hamilton." 

Later in the day the Boers beat a retreat from Thaba 
N'Chu, and it was not in the power of the British force 
available to interfere with them or their wagons. 

Sniping and shelling continue about Warrenton, 
apparently ineffectually, as no casualties have been 
reported on either side. 

April ^o. Lord Roberts has sent the following des- 
patch this day to the War Office : 

" Ian Hamilton marched yesterday in a northerly 
direction from Thaba N'Chu, with a body of mounted 
infantry and Smith-Dorrien's brigade of Clements's di- 
vision. At Hautney he found himself opposed by a 
strong force commanded by General Botha in person. 
Reinforcements reached this force during the day, and 
I directed French to strengthen him during the night 
from Thaba N'Chu. This he was able to do, as the 
number of Boers in the neighbourhood of Thaba N'Chu 
had considerably decreased. Hamilton mentioned that 
his casualties yesterday were about thirty. Maxwell's 
brigade of the Seventh Division yesterday occupied 
Vlaksontor's and Schauskraal, a row of kopjes, with- 
out meeting with opposition, but the mounted infan- 
try were engaged for some hours." 



390 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

An official Boer report from Pretoria states that a 
British mounted corps appeared near Brandfort this 
forenoon. The Federals attacked them on two sides, 
and the British, retired after eleven of their number 
had been captured and two wounded. Later in the 
afternoon General Delarey learned that the British 
had forced their way twenty miles east of Brandfort 
and seven miles north of the Modder River. With 
250 men, Delarey set out in pursuit of the British, 
who numbered twelve hundred. The forces met in 
the open country, a sharp engagement followed, and 
the British retired. As the Boers had had a heavy 
day, they did not pursue. The Federals had five men 
wounded. 

General Louis Botha has returned to Pretoria, to 
assume supreme command of the Republic's forces. 




LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR GEORGE WHITE. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



ADVANCING NORTHWARD. 



T ORD Roberts's army of the centre began the real 
-■ — ' advance from Bloemfontein to Pretoria on May 
1st, and on the 4th he was at Brandfort, thirty-six 
miles north, having driven General Delarey before him. 
He halted at Smaldeel, May 7th and 8th, to wait for 
cavalry, and to give the engineers an opportunity to 
rehabilitate the railroad in the rear. Meanwhile Ham- 
ilton had been rushing across country, his column 
marching a full hundred miles and fighting nine days 
out of thirteen, to occupy Winburg. 

A strong footing was secured on the north bank 
of the Zand River, May loth. On the i ith Lord 
Roberts pushed forward twenty miles, and at night 
was at Geneva Siding, fourteen miles from Kroonstad. 
Next day he entered Kroonstad, one hundred and 
twenty miles north of Bloemfontein. 

There was a pause of the central advance, to further 
repair the railway and bring up supplies ; but the 
mounted men continued to push out into the country 
to the northwest and northeast. 

Lord Roberts remained in Kroonstad ten days, and 

391 



392 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

then advanced to Honings Spruit, twenty miles farther 
north ; Hamilton was at Heilbron, thirty miles east, 
and French was across the Rhenoster River, twelve 
miles northwest. 

The army of the centre crossed the Vaal River, fifty- 
one miles from Johannesburg, and seventy-seven from 
Pretoria, on May 27th. Four days later (May 31st) he 
was in possession of the gold reef city. June 5th, he 
was at the gates of the capital city of the Transvaal, 
two hundred and seventy-five miles from Bloemfontein, 
the point of departure of his second advance. 

In detail, and briefly, the story of the advance was 
thus told at Cape Town : - 

May I. Early on this morning General Pole-Carew's 
division, composed of the Guards and General Stephen- 
son's brigade, with several batteries of artillery, all in 
winter clothing, left Bloemfontein. 

The Boers are unusually active west of Bloemfon- 
tein. They are in force between Fourteen Streams 
and Kimberley. On Sunday they occupied Windsor- 
ton, west of the railway, and now threaten to interrupt 
the communication of the British force at Warrenton, 
to the north. 

Wepener, lately the scene of incessant fighting, is 
deserted, General Brabant and Colonel Dalgety having 
moved northward. 

Slight outpost actions take place daily beyond Karee 
Siding, where the head of the British invasion is 
cantoned. 



ADVANCING NORTHWARD. 393 

At the conclusion of Gen. Sir George White's visit 
to Windsor to-day, Queen Victoria decorated the de- 
fender of Ladysmith with the cross and star of the 
Royal Victorian order. 

Gen. Ian Hamilton drove the enemy from his strong 
position at Hout Nek, killing twelve and wounding forty. 

May 2. At Thaba N'Chu, in a flanking movement. 
Captain Towse and fifty Gordon Highlanders were sur- 
rounded by 250 Boers, who demanded their surrender. 
Captain Towse ordered his men to fix bayonets and 
charge. With a wild cheer the Gordons rushed at the 
enemy and swept them away with great slaughter. 
Captain Towse was blinded in both eyes by the enemy's 
fire, and throughout behaved most heroically. 

General Tucker's attempt to advance on Brandfort 
showed the enemy to be in considerable strength. The 
colonial cavalry were engaged, and they lost twenty 
horses while under fire, from pom-poms. The Boers, 
however, were driven from their position. 

A British reconnoitring party fell into the hands of 
the Boers near Windsorton. 

May J. Bombardment on the Boer laager near 
Warrenton. 

Brandfort captured by the British. 

May /j.. General Hamilton advanced to Nealwelkot, 
being engaged with the enemy throughout the march. 

General Broadwood's cavalry brigade has reached 
Isabelfontein, twenty-eight miles north of Thaba N'Chu. 
Gen. Ian Hamilton is bivouacking at Jacobsrust, fif- 



394 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

teen miles north of Thaba N'Chu. General Tucker's 
division is moving eastward from Karee Siding. The 
divisions of General French and General Rundle are in 
and near Thaba N'Chu. Thus Lord Roberts has fifty 
thousand men operating clear of the railway, along a 
front of forty miles. 

May 5. The British, after a long march, encountered 
Boers holding the Vet River, with six guns, two being 
of long range. An artillery duel ensued. Meanwhile 
General Hutton, after a sharp engagement," crossed 
the river, on the left, just before sunset. The Boers 
retreated during the night. 

General Barton's brigade has crossed the Vaal River 
at Windsorton after a stiff action, in which the British 
lost five killed and twenty-five wounded. 

General Rundle has arrived in pursuit of the Boers 
seven miles north of Thaba N'Chu, compelling the 
Boers to retire in an easterly direction. 

May 6. Lord Roberts thus announces an important 
success : " We crossed the Vet River this morning, and 
are now encamped at Smaldeel Junction. The enemy 
is in full retreat toward Zand River and Kroonstad. 
The turning movement was made by the mounted infan- 
try just before dark yesterday. It was a very dashing 
affair. We have lost only one killed, fi.fteen wounded, 
and three missing." 

May y. The Boers have been driven out of Four- 
teen Streams, and the British are now encamped on 
the north bank of the Vaal River. 



ADVANCING NORTHWARD. 395 

Winburg has been occupied by the Highland 
Brigade. 

May 8. General Hutton's mounted infantry brigade, 
including the Canadians, with a part of General French's 
cavalry, crossed the Zand River Tuesday, and began to 
vi^ork its way cautiously along the railroad northward, 
in the track of the retiring Boers. 

May g. The government of the Orange Free State 
has been moved from Kroonstad to Heilbron. 

Lord Roberts is at Welgelegen. 

May 10. Lord Roberts telegraphed this evening 
from Riet Spruit : " We have had a successful day, 
and have driven the enemy from point to point. French, 
with Porter's and Dickson's brigades of cavalry, and 
Hutton's mounted infantry, crossed the Zand River at 
Vermenten's kraal, and then worked around in a north- 
easterly direction to Maatschapy, being opposed con- 
tinuously by the enemy. Pole-Carew's division and 
Gordon's cavalry brigade, augmented by J Battery of 
the Royal Horse Artillery, and by Henry's and Rosse's 
mounted infantry, crossed the river by a drift near the 
railway bridge. My headquarters accompanied this 
force. With the infantry portion we are eight miles 
north of the river. The cavalry and mounted in- 
fantry are at Ventersburg road station, and Tucker's 
division is at Deelfontein. Ian Hamilton's force 
and Broadwood's cavalry brigade were making for 
the cross-roads near Ventersburg when I last heard 
from them. Hamilton's column met with stubborn 



396 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

resistance, and Smith-Dorrien's brigade was engaged 
for some hours in protecting the rear and flank of 
his force." 

General French's cavalry had a lively fight after 
crossing the Zand River. A mixed squadron, composed 
of the Scots Greys, the Inniskillens, Carbineers, and 
Australian Horse, took a kopje and dismounted. The 
Boers suddenly fired from a concealed position, killing 
many horses and stampeding the rest. The enemy 
then advanced in overwhelming numbers and drove the 
squadron, capturing some. The Boers robbed the dead 
and looted the saddles. Finally a brigade of cavalry 
drove them off. 

General Buller is advancing northward from Lady- 
smith, 

May 12. Lord Roberts occupied Kroonstad to-day. 
President Steyn had fled the night previous. 

The Boers stormed the forts at Mafeking. They 
were driven off, leaving behind seventeen dead and 
ninety prisoners, including Commander Eloff, President 
Kruger's grandson. 

May 75. General Buller has occupied Dundee. 

A portion of Brabant's Horse occupied Ladybrand 
to-day, and another portion is pushing on to Clocolan. 

May 16. General Buller telegraphed to-day : " We 
occupied Glencoe this forenoon. The Transvaalers 
have now evacuated Biggarsberg. The Free Staters 
on the Drakensburg are much reduced in numbers. 
The Carolina, Lydenberg, and Pretoria commandoes 



ADVANCING NORTHWARD. 397 

trekked north from Hlatikulu on the 13th and 14th 
of May. Eleven of their guns were entrained by them 
at Glencoe. The last train, with ambulance, left there 
at dawn, May 15th. 

" General Rundle and General Brabant are taking 
possession of the wide regions around Ladybrand almost 
without opposition. They find the country plentifully 
supplied with cattle, horse-feed, and flour. General 
Rundle is reducing his transport and feeding his men 
and animals largely off the country." 

May ly. Lord Roberts has just telegraphed : 
" Hunter has occupied Christiana without opposition, 
the enemy having retired to Klerksdorp under the 
impression that the latter was threatened by a por- 
tion of this force from Pary's. Rundle's force was 
close to Clocolan (southwest of Fricksburg) yesterday 
evening. The country was clear of the enemy." 

The British relieving force occupied Mafeking at nine 
o'clock this morning. The garrison immediately moved 
out with i2-pounders and pom-poms and attacked Mc- 
Mullin's laager. The Boers resisted weakly for half 
an hour, and then fled in disorder, leaving their tents, 
wagons, and impedimenta. The British then occupied 
all the Boer positions. Colonel Baden-Powell gave the 
garrison an opportunity of revenging themselves, using 
the relief force as a reserve and as supports. Men and 
women swarmed to the house-tops, and Lady Sarah 
Wilson, on a bicycle, accompanied the troops as far 
as the Boer lines. 



398 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Colonel Mahon fought the Boers for five hours at a 
point nine miles east of Maf eking. 

May 18. Colonel Pilcher, with four hundred men 
from Alderson's command, including Canadians and 
Australians, all mounted on carefully selected horses, 
dashed northward from Kroonstad yesterday and cap- 
tured Bothaville. 

Lord Roberts sends the following despatch from 
Kroonstad to-day : " Methuen entered Hoopstad unop- 
posed. Generals Duprey and Daniels, and forty men, 
have surrendered. Broadwood occupied Lindley after 
slight opposition. Only two of our men were wounded. 
Steyn was not there, and his government officials had 
left last Sunday. Hutton's mounted infantry surprised 
and captured, about thirty-one miles northwest of this 
place. Commandant Botha, Field-Cornet Gassen, five 
Johannesburg policemen, and seventeen Boers. There 
were no casualties on our side." 

General Buller has occupied Newcastle. 

May ig. General Clery, with a cavalry brigade, en- 
gaged the rear-guard of the Boers at Laing's Nek to-day, 
captured a number of wagons, and took some prisoners. 
His artillery shelled the nek. The Boers, in their 
retreat, laid waste the territory, blew up bridges, and 
burned several houses, — as many as six in Newcastle. 
The machinery of the Navigation collieries was ruined. 

May 20. A despatch from Pretoria states : " Sixty 
British cavalry came into collision with eighty of the 
Swaziland commando at Scheepers Nek. The fighting 



ADVANCING NORTHWARD. 399 

lasted an hour. The British lost twenty-seven killed, 
twenty-five wounded, and eleven were taken prisoners. 
Twenty-five horses, two Maxims, and a quantity of am- 
munition were also captured. The Federals lost one 
killed and one wounded. They assisted to remove the 
wounded and bury the dead." 

May 21. General Buller has just telegraphed: 
" While marching in the direction of Newcastle one 
of my squadrons of mounted infantry was ambushed 
by Boers six miles west of Dryheid, and very few 
escaped. Lieutenants Lausum and Cat ell are among 
the missing. Capt. Earl de la Warr is slightly wounded 
in the leg. The total casualties are about sixty-six." 

May 22. Lord Roberts sends the following despatch 
from Honings Spruit : " Ian Hamilton reached Heilbron 
this morning after a series of engagements with a Boer 
force under De Wet, who was retiring before him. 
Broadwood had captured fifteen Boer wagons. There 
have been seventy-five casualties in Hamilton's force, 
— two yesterday evening. We marched here this 
morning." 

May ^j. Lord Roberts's infantry forces are at the 
Rhenoster River, thirty-three miles north of Kroonstad. 
The Boers are retiring slowly. 

May 2/}.. In Natal, General Buller's forces have 
crossed into the Transvaal, near Ingogo, but are still 
held at bay at Laing's Nek, where the Boers are 
entrenching themselves. With the exception of this 
pass. Natal is clear of Boers. 



400 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

General Rundle occupied Senekal to-day. 

The British columns, after an unopposed march, 
reached the Vredefort road at noon to-day, and are 
now only two marches from the Vaal River. 

General French has reached Prospect station, about 
five miles north of Rhenoster River. The Boers are 
retreating straight on the Vaal. 

May 2^. Lord Roberts's infantry advance is delayed 
at the Rhenoster River for a day or two by the depth 
of the stream, which is not fordable. The banks, which 
are precipitous, are forty feet high. A pontoon and 
temporary bridge constructions are under way. 

May 26. Lord Roberts has telegraphed from Wolve 
Hoek : "An advanced portion of this force crossed the 
Vaal River on the queen's birthday, near Pary's. Ham- 
ilton's column is at Boschbank. Our scouts are now at 
Viljoens drift (on the frontier north of Wolve Hoek). 
The local mines are uninjured, and work is going on 
as usual. There is no enemy this side of the river. 
Hunter reached Vryburg May 24th." 

May 2'j. A despatch from Lord Roberts to-day, 
dated at Vereeniging : " We crossed the Vaal this 
morning, and are now encamped on the north bank. 
The advance troops, which crossed yesterday, were only 
just in time to save the coal-mines on both this and 
the other side of the river from being destroyed. Our 
casualties were four." 

General Hamilton has invaded the Transvaal, having 
crossed at Wondorfontein drift. 



ADVANCING NORTHWARD. 4OI 

May 28. From Lord Roberts, at Klip River, Trans- 
vaal : " We marched twenty miles to-day, and are now 
eighteen miles from Johannesburg," 

The Orange Free State was formally annexed to 
the British empire, to be known as the Orange River 
State. 

May 2g. Lord Roberts arrived at Germiston to-day. 

General Warren, with seven hundred men, occupied 
a strong defensive position at Fabersput this morning. 
At dawn he found that he was surrounded, and he was 
fiercely attacked by one thousand Boers. The horses 
were stampeded, but the force concentrated and the 
enemy was repulsed. The British loss was fifteen 
killed, including Colonel Spence, and thirty wounded. 

Sir Henry Colville, in reporting the arrival of the 
Highland Brigade at Heilbron, to-day, states that he 
was opposed more or less the whole way from Venters- 
burg. Eight men were killed, and four officers and 
thirty-two men were wounded. 

The British guns at Ingogo have been heavily bom- 
barding the Boer positions since daylight. The Boer 
guns have replied intermittently. 

General Buller and the Boers had an all-day artillery 
duel in the Natal mountains. 

General Hunter has reentered the Transvaal half-way 
between Vryburg and Mafeking on the west. Baden- 
Powell is also invading from the west, but farther north. 

May JO. British officers are now at Johannesburg 
dictating terms of surrender. The British advance- 



402 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

guard is half-way between Johannesburg and Pretoria. 
President Kruger has gone to Waterval Boven, 130 
miles due east of Pretoria, on the line of the Delagoa 
Bay railway. 

In northern Natal, Utrecht has surrendered to 
General Hildyard, and General Lyttleton is moving 
to Vryheid. 

May ^i. A despatch from Lord Roberts has just 
been received : " The occupation of Johannesburg 
passed off quite satisfactorily, thanks to the excellent 
arrangements made by Doctor Krause, the Transvaal 
commandant here, and order prevails throughout the 
town. Doctor Krause met me on my entrance to 
Johannesburg, and rode by my side to the government 
offices, where he introduced me to the heads of the 
several departments, all of whom acceded to my request 
that they would carry on their respective duties until 
they could be relieved of them. Johannesburg is very 
empty, but a good crowd of people had assembled in 
the main square by the time the British flag was being 
hoisted. A royal salute was fired, and three cheers for 
the queen given. At the end of the ceremony the 
Eleventh and Seventh Divisions marched past, with 
the naval brigade, the heavy artillery, and two brigade 
divisions of the Royal Field Artillery. Gen. Ian Ham- 
ilton's column, and the cavalry division and mounted 
infantry were too far away to take part in the cere- 
mony. The 14th and Wavell's Brigade have been left 
in Johannesburg to preserve order, while the remainder 



ADVANCING NORTHWARD. 403 

of the force is encamped north of the town, on the 
Pretoria road." 

Near Lindley, this afternoon, the Boers made a plucky- 
stand, and after a hot, but brief action, captured the 
13th Imperial Yeomanry (Irish). Lord Methuen has 
been ordered in pursuit of the enemy. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

MAFEKING. 

MAFEKING, situated on the Cape to Cairo rail- 
way, about 1 60 miles due west of Pretoria, 
close upon the border of the Transvaal, within easy 
striking distance of the capital of the South Afri- 
can Republic, and of Johannesburg, was unfortunate 
because of its proximity to the enemy ; but fortunate 
in having as its military commander Colonel Baden- 
Powell. 

When Colonel Baden-Powell took command at 
Mafeking he had a force of about six hundred men, 
whom he had recruited in the vicinity. 

The town was formerly unfortified except for a 
small stone fort. It stands in an open plain, desti- 
tute of trees, and with no natural obstructions near 
to break the sweep of the enemy's fire. 

In such a place as this, and with his small force. 
Colonel Baden-Powell was obliged to withstand the en- 
croachment of a large army of Boers. How well he 
did it is shown by the length of the memorable siege. 

Mafeking is the farthest northwest of any of the 
British outposts in the theatre of war in South Africa. 

404 



MAFEKING. 405 

It is 875 miles north of Cape Town, and two 
hundred miles north of Kimberley, near the border 
line between Bechuanaland and the Transvaal. It is 
on the main line of railroad from the Cape to Bulwayo. 

The town stands on the edge of the great veldt, or 
open field, that rolls eastward to the great Kalahari 
Desert and northward to Bechuanaland. Although but 
a cluster of houses built of corrugated iron, with a 
few stores, a small hotel, and a race-track, Mafeking 
is one of the most important places in South Africa. 

Before the war, it was the headquarters of the 
Bechuanaland border police, a distributing point to 
the rich Malmani gold-fields, and to the fruitful Marico 
valley in Transvaal territory. 

It was from Mafeking that Doctor Jameson started 
bis famous raid into the Transvaal, the forerunner of 
the present strife. 

The town is a central point between the Cape and 
Mashonaland, and between the Transvaal and Bechu- 
analand. Owing to this fact, it was at once recognised 
as a most important strategic place in the present 
war. 

When it was evident that the difference between 
the Boers and the British government would be settled 
only by resort to arms. Colonel Baden-Powell set about 
preparations for the defence of the town as if the 
enemy were well-nigh irresistible. Many there were 
around him who laughed at the idea that Dutch farm- 
ers were to be feared, and yet more who declared it 



406 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

was nothing less than absolute folly to set up a de- 
fence against Boer artillery, for the very good reason 
that the enemy were not supplied with such ordnance. 

But Baden-Powell was not the man to be swayed by 
laughter or ridicule. 

" I have come here to hold this town," he said. 

Straightway, before any enemy appeared on the 
horizon, he set about marking out the line of his ex- 
terior defence works, and, with that common sense 
which is the best test of the true soldier, at once 
directed the construction of ample shell-proof cover 
against the guns which at that time seemed so chi- 
merical to the people of Mafeking. 

Each one of the breastworks all around the town 
was at once provided with underground shell-proof 
accommodation for the whole of its garrison. The town 
itself was divided up into three or four sections, each 
of which had its own arrangements for defence. In 
each, big mounds of earth have been thrown up, with 
good interior apartments, all constructed of the handi- 
est material, such as wall-supports and roof-cross- 
beams of railway metals, with panellings and roofings 
of corrugated iron. 

He then converted the cellars of several houses into 
safe retreats of a similar kind, and by means of bank- 
ing huge mounds of deep earth immediately overhead, 
they rendered good service to the garrison and in- 
habitants on the day when the Boer artillery began 
to rain shot and shell on the devoted little town. 



MAFEKING. 407 

One of his first acts was to banish from the town 
all who were suspected of being friendly to the enemy, 
and such as could be proven disloyal were confined 
in close quarters from which escape would be well- 
nigh impossible. Among this last class were forty 
pronounced Fenians, including the station-master at 
Maf eking, all of whom were "more than suspected 
of treasonable correspondence with the enemy." 

On a certain dark night after the garrison was shut 
off by the enemy from direct communication with the 
rest of the colony, a Kaffir stole away from the out- 
posts of the little beleaguered township. With the 
subtle instinct of these children of the veldt which has 
been lost to civilised men, he made his way through 
the network of encircling trenches and laagers, and 
set his face to the north and Bulwayo. 

He carried a couple of assegais, a few mealies, and 
a pipe. The latter may have seemed of little impor- 
tance, but in the stem of that pipe lay the message 
from the cheerful, confident chief, which, after a jour- 
ney to Delagoa Bay, gave to friends at home interest- 
ing details of the resistance offered by the town to 
the guns of the Boer siege. 

The hero of Mafeking wrote : 

" Here I sit in my bomb-proof bureau writing these 
letters. Around me are telephonic communications with 
each one of my outposts. At each of these outposts 
a telescope keeps constant watch on the Boer out- 
posts and guns. As soon as it is seen which way 



408 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

their fire is about to be directed, the wire communi- 
cations are set to work, and a bell, with which each 
defensive quarter is provided, clangs in that part of 
the town where the shell is about to fall, and all in 
the open at once go to ground like rabbits. Generally 
speaking, most of us, unless duty takes us out, keep 
pretty close during the day, but we come out and 
take the air at night. The Boers usually finish pound- 
ing us toward evening, or just send us a few shells 
before the sun goes down." 

The Boer advance upon Maf eking, under General 
Cronje, was begun October i6th by a succession of 
trenches in echelon under cover of heavy fire from 
field-guns which worked but little damage, thanks to 
the admirable arrangements already made for defence. 

The bombardment of the town was continued day 
after day, but the defenders made no reply until the 
enemy were within a distance of five hundred yards. 

On the 24th of October the Boers were reinforced by 
a 94-pounder Krupp gun, and no less than three hun- 
dred and thirty shots were sent from it into the town 
within twenty-four hours after its arrival. 

The heaviest bombardment occurred on the 25th, 
when the Boers attempted, under cover of the heavy 
guns, to approach within rifle range. They were beaten 
back again and again, apparently with heavy loss, until 
the effort was abandoned, and once more the trench 
digging was carried on ; but the shelling of the town 
was continued. 




IN THE TRENCHES AT MAFEKING. 



MAFEKING. 4O9 

On the night of the 27th, Colonel Baden-Powell 
assumed the offensive by sending out Captain Fitz- 
Clarence's squadron of the Protectorate regiment to 
make an attack upon the trenches. The sallying party 
crept out silently, bent on using the bayonet, and the 
Boers had no warning of the movement until a line of 
British steel tore through the water-proof coverings 
of the trenches with irresistible force. 

Then came the struggle. While one might have 
counted twenty the Boers were silent and motionless, 
save for the screams of the wounded and the backward 
leaps of the terrified. After that brief space of time 
the surprised men were ready, eager for the conflict, 
and every weapon was discharged as if at the word of 
command. 

It was not the purpose of the British to do more 
than worry the enemy, and after firing two volleys 
they returned as silently as they had come, bearing with 
them the dead and wounded, — six men of the Pro- 
tectorate regiment killed, and nine wounded, including 
Captain Fitz-Clarence and Lieutenant Swinton. 

Under date of October 30th, Colonel Baden-Powell 
sent the following despatch to Cape Town : 

" All well here. Enemy apparently shy of attack- 
ing. Now closing to invest us. Are to-day destroying 
railway two miles north with dynamite. Shelling con- 
tinued. Doing very little harm." 

On the following day the colonel sent another 
despatch : 



4IO FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

"Tuesday, October 31st. — Enemy attempted assault 
to-day on Canon Kopje and southeast corner of town. 
Attack most brilliant, notwithstanding hot shell fire by 
the British South Africa police under Walford. Enemy 
lost heavily. Our casualties five killed and five wounded. 
The killed are : Capt. D. H. Marshan, 4th Bedfordshire ; 
Capt. C. A. Petchell, 3d King's Rifles ; a sergeant-major 
and two troopers. Wounded : five non-commissioned of- 
ficers and troopers, — all British South African pohce." 

One of the press correspondents thus supplements 
Colonel Baden-Powell's report : 

" General Cronje made his great attack on Mafeking 
this morning. At 4.30 his guns, apparently all he had, 
began to concentrate on Canon Kopje, held by Colonel 
Walford' s troops, the British South African Protector- 
ate regiment. When day broke, the Boers were men- 
acing in force over at Key Down. At 6 o'clock there 
was a tremendous fire, which poured in from three sides 
of the kopje. Colonel Baden-Powell ordered the town 
guns to support Colonel Walford, whose Maxims sent in 
a withering fire, putting the Boers' 12-pounder out of 
action. 

" Under cover of the artillery, the Boers crept closer 
and closer to the kopje. The position became very seri- 
ous, but our men showed immense coolness and courage. 
The Maxims never ceased firing, and together with care- 
ful, continuous volleys by the entire little force, they 
gradually wore the Boers down. After five hours' fight- 
ing, the enemy retired, being very badly beaten. It was 



MAFEKING. 4II 

the hottest day of the siege. The firing was terrific, the 
Boers evidently recognising that the way into Mafeking 
is by the kopje. The garrison is jubilant. 

" The Boers have been hurled back in disorder on 
their laager, with heavy loss. For hours after their 
fighting line had been rolled back, two wagons went 
slowly along their position picking up the dead and 
wounded. Our losses were five killed and five wounded. 
The kopje resembled shambles after the fight, showing 
what a desperate struggle had gone on. The whole 
place was simply smashed up by the concentrated fire 
of seven guns and one thousand rifles." 

A private letter from Mafeking, of earlier date than 
the official despatch, contains the following : 

" Colonel Baden-Powell has been keeping the Boers 
on the move day and night, and has taken every precau- 
tion, not only to prevent the town being rushed by the 
Boers, but also to render as small as possible any dam- 
age resulting from the Boer bombardment. The night 
attacks of the British appear to have worried the 
Boers considerably. Although the latter have shelled 
the town day by day, but little damage has resulted, the 
British casualties having been but few. Commandant 
Cronje has brought all his guns to bear on the town, 
and hailed shells in its direction for hours. His pieces, 
however, appear to have been like field-guns, and have 
proved singularly ineffective. The humour of it is that 
Commandant Cronje, at a loss what next to do, wrote 
to Colonel Baden-Powell requesting him to surrender 



412 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Maf eking, to ' save further bloodshed.' In reply, Baden- 
Powell asked when the bloodshed was to commence, and 
Cronje, greatly annoyed, sent to Pretoria in haste for 
heavy field-guns, keeping up a light bombardment 
in the meantime, just to show that he was in the 
neighbourhood." 

The Boers vacated Signal Hill, which they had occu- 
pied evidently under the belief that it was the key to 
the town, and laagered two miles northeast. Mafeking's 
commandant worried the enemy by sorties at night, 
generally inflicting more injury than he received, and on 
December 26th occurred the grand attack of the siege, 
which is thus described by one of the participants : 

" At dawn to-day Colonel Baden- Powell organised an 
unsuccessful attack upon a strong position of the enemy 
at Gametree, two miles from Mafeking, from which the 
Boers had been maintaining a desultory, but annoying, 
shell and rifle fire for several weeks. The railway 
has recently been reconstructed between the town and 
Gametree, where the Boers had destroyed it, the final 
repairs being made in preparation for the sortie. 

" During the night the armoured train, with Maxim 
and Hotchkiss guns, under Captain Williams, and 
troops, took up positions for attack from two sides. 
Captain Lord Charles Bentinck and a squadron were 
in reserve upon the left, while the extreme left wing 
was occupied by artillery under Major Panzera, and a 
galloping Maxim of the Cape Police, the whole being 
under Colonel Hore. 



MAFEKING. 413 

"Emplacements were thrown up during the night, 
the orders being to attack at dawn, and the artillery fire 
to desist upon prolonged tooting from the armoured 
train. At daybreak the guns opened fire, and rapidly 
drew the reply of the enemy, our shells bursting 
within effective range. Captain Vernon gave the sig- 
nal to cease firing and to advance, his squadron lead- 
ing off. 

"As our men engaged the position with their rifle 
fire, it was soon found that the strength of the fort was 
greater than we had supposed. The enemy concen- 
trated such an exceedingly hot fire that the advance 
of Captain Vernon was almost impossible ; but with 
remarkable heroism and gallantry. Captains Sanford 
and Vernon, Lieutenant Paton, and Scout Cooke, who 
guided the squadrons, and a few men, actually reached 
the sand-bags within three hundred yards of the area 
of the fort. 

" But nothing living could exist there, since the 
ground was swept by mortar and Martini bullets. 
The men who charged through this zone of fire suf- 
fered terribly, and, in following their officers to capture 
the fort, twenty men lost their lives. Captain Sanford 
was the first to fall, and Captain Vernon, already twice 
wounded, and Lieutenant Paton were killed at the foot 
of the fort. These two officers, climbing a ditch which 
surrounded the fort, thrust their revolvers through the 
enemy's loopholes, only to be shot themselves the next 
moment. 



414 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

" Gametree is surrounded with scrub, which con- 
tains many sharpshooters, and their accuracy of fire 
still further confused the men who had followed Cap- 
tain Vernon, and who saw him and his brother officers 
killed. Being without commanders, they were driven 
off at one point, but they endeavoured to scale the fort 
at others. They found the position of the Boers, how- 
ever, almost impregnable. 

" When we retired, under cover of the armoured train, 
so many men had been wounded that a suspension of 
hostilities occurred under the auspices of the Red Cross. 
The veldt around the Boer position was at once dotted 
with flags of mercy, and it was seen that our wounded 
were scattered within but a short radius of the fort. 
We had almost completely surrounded it, and, had it 
not been so extraordinarily well protected, we should 
have been in possession. 

" I went with an ambulance to Gametree. The fort 
itself is circular, with a wide interior and a narrow front- 
age, between six and seven feet high, pierced with triple 
tiers of loopholes and surrounded by a ditch. 

"I was permitted to assist in dressing the wounds, 
the majority of which appeared to have been caused by 
explosive bullets, the point of entry being small, but 
the area of injury covering a wide region. While the 
wounded were being attended, numbers of Boers left 
their entrenchments and gathered around. At the con- 
clusion of the dressing I spoke to several tattered and 
dirty, but physically fine men. Many of them were 



MAFEKING. 415 

undersized, and all wore beards. They referred me to 
the field-cornet, who denied the use of explosive bullets. 
On being shown the horrible wounds, he admitted that 
at one time explosive bullets had been served out, but 
he said he was certain they had all been previously 
expended, and that none could have been used on this 
occasion. He then produced a bandolier filled with 
dum-dums, and I pointed out that, so far as Mafeking 
was concerned, these had been recalled. 

" Later on I called the attention of the field-cornet to 
four of his own men who were rifling dead bodies. He 
expressed his regrets to a British officer that, despite 
his instructions to respect the dead, the younger Boers 
were unruly and beyond his control ; and he accused 
the British soldiers of stripping General Kock and leav- 
ing him naked and wounded on the field, thus indirectly 
causing his death." 

The writer then describes a scene of angry recrimi- 
nations between the field-cornet and the Boers regarding 
the existence of orders about robbing the dead, and also 
about the facts themselves, some of the Boers asserting 
that they only took arms, despite the arrival, at that 
very moment, of the bodies of five British, under Boer 
escort, with the pockets of their uniforms turned inside 
out. 

He continues : " Some of the British wounded flatly 
accuse the Boers of stealing their money, rings, and 
other valuables. We had great difficulty in getting 
permission to use the armoured train to remove our 



41 6 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

wounded. We believe that spies carried the news of 
our contemplated sortie to the Boers. The field-comet 
admitted that he was reinforced during the night by 
one hundred mounted men, and acknowledged with- 
drawing his guns." 

Colonel Baden-Powell reports, officially : 

" Our attack only withdrew after six of our officers 
had been hit, and a large number of men. Nothing 
could have exceeded the courage and dash displayed. 
The general situation remains unchanged, and the 
health and spirits of the garrison are very satisfactory. 
I regret the following casualties : 

" Killed : Capt. R, J. Harmon, Capt. H. C. Sanford, 
Lieut. H. C. Baton ; eighteen non-commissioned officers 
and troopers ; wounded : Capt. Charles Fitz-Clarence, 
twenty -three non-commissioned officers and troopers ; 
prisoners : three troopers." 

While the besieged garrison were making such valiant 
efforts to beat back the enemy. Colonel Plumer, with a 
considerable force, was moving toward Mafeking with 
a hope of relieving the place. 

A private soldier of the garrison, writing to a friend 
in Haverhill, Mass., on December 31st, said: 

" When we were closed in by the Boers, we expected 
a speedy relief ; but when we had been imprisoned for 
ten days and no relief came, and the Boers outside the 
towri seemed as determined and as buoyant in spirits as 
ever, we became awakened to the necessity of protect- 
ing ourselves from their fire. 



MAFEKING. 4 1 7 

" Sections of us in cliarge of sergeants were put to 
work digging tunnels, in which the women and children 
were placed, and then we continued tunnelling until the 
streets and fields were a very complicated network of 
tunnels. Our goods were removed to our peculiar 
domiciles. 

" Once more we felt protected from stray shells 
and shots, which had a very bad and unpleasant habit 
of coming along without being asked, and picking a 
fellow off, sometimes killing him, and sometimes giving 
him a pass to the hospital. Our sentries exercise great 
care in their rounds, and ' All's well ' comes not with a 
gladsome cry, but in a smothered voice which can be 
scarcely heard by the next sentinel. 

" Occasionally in the darkness of the night comes an 
exchange of shots between one of our pickets and one 
of the enemy, and sometimes the cause for alarm is a 
skulking animal, prowling about for food. In the 
morning, as reveille sounds, the troops are not seen 
hurrying to fall in, but dodging along to avoid observa- 
tion. Inspection and guard-mount come every morning 
at daybreak, and as the guard leaves, many are the hand- 
shakes given for fear of not meeting again." 

Lady Sarah Wilson, wife of Capt. Gordon Wilson, 
an officer of the Horse Guards, who is attached to 
Colonel Baden-Powell's staff, followed her husband to 
Africa at the outbreak of the war, and entered Mafe- 
king before the siege. 

She interested herself in Red Cross work, and fol- 



4l8 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

lowed the military operations of Colonel Baden-Powell's 
command very closely. Early in the siege she accom- 
panied a party of the garrison in a sortie which they 
made with the armoured train. 

After a month in Mafeking, she decided that she 
would attempt to escape, in order to send full informa- 
tion of the condition of the garrison to the government, 
and also to establish communications from the outside 
with Colonel Baden-Powell. 

She left Mafeking on horseback, accompanied only 
by a maid, and carrying three days' provisions. She 
rode the first day to a place called Setlagoli, a small 
station in British territory which was occupied by the 
Boers. Here she put up at a hotel. 

That night an armoured train, commanded by Captain 
Nesbitt, of the Mashonaland mounted police, which was 
trying to run through to Mafeking with ammunition, 
was wrecked by the Boers near Setlagoli, the captain 
and his men being all killed or captured. 

Lady Sarah was also taken by the Boers and held 
for two days, after which she was sent to Mochudi, a 
Boer post near Mafeking. While here she established 
a spy system, supplying Colonel Baden-Powell with 
information as to the Boer situation and plans. 

It is said that Lady Sarah, being placed in charge of 
a young Boer farmer, persuaded her keeper to take her 
to Vryburg, she going disguised as his sister. At Vry- 
burg she became an object of suspicion, and was 
obliged to leave the town hurriedly. 



MAFEKING. 419 

On her arrival at Mochudi she was treated as a spy 
by Commandant Snyraan. Colonel Baden-Powell de- 
manded her release as a non-combatant. The Boer 
commandant replied that she was a spy. After nego- 
tiations she was exchanged for a Boer officer imprisoned 
at Maf eking, and returned to her husband and Mafe- 
king, where she lived, during the siege, in an under- 
ground room, or bomb-proof, fitted up with various 
comforts and even luxuries. 

Some of her despatches give graphic descriptions of 
incidents of the siege. On January 20th, the one hun- 
dredth day of the siege, she wrote a long letter, which 
was received in London early in March, in which she 
described the horrors attending the constant bombard- 
ment of the town, and the throwing of shells into the 
camp set aside for women and children. 

Extracts from the diary of an officer of the garrison 
give some of the lights and shades of the siege : 

^* January 21 (Sunday). Agricultural and produce 
show, including babies. It was a successful and 
an extraordinary exhibition. 

^January 22. Rather late shelling to-day. A 
rumoured attack on Kamr Stadt by Boer friendlies 
did not take place. There was a certain amount of 
firing from Fort Ayr. 

" Colonel Baden-Powell protested the other day 
against firing on our white flag. General Snyman sent 
in an answer apologising for his Burghers having fired 
on the white flag, and stating, with regard to Colonel 



420 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Baden-Powell's remonstrance to his arming and raising 
the natives, that he had merely armed a few cattle 
guards. 

" In that case the Boers must have many cattle in 
close proximity to our camp, unseen and unknown to 
us. He further stated that he had noticed us building 
fortifications on Sunday, to which Colonel Baden-Powell 
replied that we had merely taken out and relaid some 
old mine lines, and that he had been vastly interested, 
while riding around the western outposts on Sunday, to 
see the assiduity with which the Boers had been work- 
ing at their new fortifications in that part. 

^^ January 2§. There was a good deal of firing to- 
day around the western trenches. In the evening a 
native convicted- as a spy was executed. 

'January zj. During my return from a morning ride 
the big gun was fired, and I saw the shell burst some- 
what short of the women's laager. The Boers placed 
later eight large shells in and close around the laager, 
and we now understand the reason for the Dutch 
women taking cover as they did. It was a most delib- 
erate piece of barbarism, but mercifully there were no 
casualties. 

"January 28 (Sunday). It is hard to believe, with 
the much stronger position we now have and the re- 
duced number of Boers, that they will attack again ; 
but, on the other hand, it is harder to believe that they 
will leave Mafeking without a desperate effort to cap- 
ture it. In any case the garrison are confident. At 



MAFEKING. 42 1 

the termination of evening service we sing the national 
anthem. 

^^ January zg. Good news has been received of vic- 
tories from the south. It seems as if the tide had 
turned. Colonel Baden-Powell issued an order in which 
he referred to the execution of the spy, and warned all 
persons, women included, who might be found treason- 
ably corresponding with the enemy, that on conviction 
they would be shot. He regretted having to take such 
a strong measure, but as the enemy chose to fire on the 
women's laager, he should confine the Dutch prisoners 
on the laager, so that if the enemy persisted in their 
brutality, they would kill their own friends. 

^^ February 8. To-day we are informed that we must 
be prepared to hold out for another four months, which 
we are quite prepared to do. The garrison and in- 
habitants received the intelligence with the utmost 
equanimity, and no earthly doubt as to the result, 
merely using expressions of extreme boredom at the 
prospect of such an extension of this monotonous 
existence. 

*' February 10. Mr. Dall, town councillor, and com- 
mander of one of the town guard, was blown to pieces 
by an early morning shell. 

" February 11. There was a good deal of firing last 
night. Two boys were shot going to Kanen, for- 
tunately not the runners. There is a dance to-night ; 
it was postponed owing to Mr. Ball's death." 

On the 17th of February the Boers made a severe 



422 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

and protracted assault upon Mafeking, continuing it 
throughout Sunday, the i8th, contrary to their usual 
custom of resting on the Sabbath. After most de- 
termined fighting on both sides, the assaulters were 
forced to retire, with a loss of forty, killed and wounded, 
while the defenders, able to take advantage of earth- 
works and bomb-proofs, lost only two killed and three 
wounded. 

There was little news from the besieged town until 
a letter, dated March loth, was received at Lorenzo 
Marquez, containing the following grim information : 

"The garrison is holding its own. We have heard 
numerous rumours that the siege will be raised, but so 
far that is not the case. We are pegging. away patiently 
on quarter rations, supplemented by the occasional cap- 
ture of cattle. Our home-made gun occasionally bom- 
bards the Boer trenches. Horrible stories are current 
that the Boers are inflicting nameless tortures upon 
captured native runners. These may not be true, but 
they are tending to inflame native passions to such an 
extent that it may soon be impossible to hold the natives 
in check. Owing to the Boers having deliberately bom- 
barded the native stadt, which is full of women. Colonel 
Baden-Powell has armed the natives, but he has only 
allowed them to act on the defensive, although they 
have clamoured to be allowed to go out and attack at the 
point of the assegai. They will be prevented so long 
as possible from inflicting reprisals on the Boers." 

The stress of the siege began to be terribly felt in 



MAFEKING. 423 

March, when the garrison and inhabitants were reduced 
to the use of horse-flesh, and bread made from horse 
forage, while the water was contaminated by parasites. 
Word was given out at that time that the people must 
prepare themselves to sustain life until the latter part 
of May. 

Early in April, Plumer's cavalry again attacked the 
Boers, while a sortie was made by the garrison. Both 
forces were repulsed. 

As the siege progressed, sickness from malaria, 
typhoid fever, and other diseases, increased. 

The defeat of the relieving column had a depressing 
effect upon the garrison. Up to the end of March, 
368 people, soldiers and non-combatants, had been 
killed or wounded by the enemy's fire, or had died from 
disease. Women and children suffered especially. 

The following extracts are taken from Lady Sarah 
Wilson's letters : 

^' April ^. The pinch of hunger is beginning to be 
felt, and relief seems more distant than ever. Since 
March 31st there had been no shelling until to-day. 
Commandant Snyman having taken his Burghers to bar 
Colonel Plumer's road. Yesterday, however, he re- 
turned, and the bombardment was renewed to-day with 
splendid, high-velocity guns, firing 14-pound shells, such 
as have not been used since the first days of the siege. 
The military authorities say that the British artillery 
has nothing to compare with these guns." 

^^ April 8. Our bread is now made entirely of oats 



424 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

and is full of husks. This causes much illness. There 
are many cases of nervous prostration and malarial 
typhoid among the garrison. The news of the check 
to the relieving column is a terrible disappointment. 
Last Friday thirty-three natives issued forth to recover 
some cattle which had been looted by the Boers. They 
were betrayed by unfriendly natives to the Boers, who 
surrounded them while they were sleeping, and shot all 
but one, giving no quarter. One escaped to tell the 
tale. The natives are now mad for revenge, and it will 
be very difficult to control them. The bombardment 
continues. Our casualties to combatants, up to the end 
of March, aggregated 368 in killed and wounded." 

" April ig. The investment is so close that no run- 
ners have entered or issued forth for ten days. There 
was a terrific bombardment on April nth, but, with 
the exception of destroying some houses, it was harm- 
less. The Boers then made a determined attack on the 
southwestern forts, which was successfully repulsed. 
The Boers have formed a new laager on the south. 
Many horses are dying of horse sickness. Trees are 
being cut down for fuel. The garrison is now eating 
the ambulance oxen, reserving the mules until the last. 
The daily ration is now six ounces of gritty oat 
bread, a pound of bully beef, and a quart of skilly." 

" April 20. The Boers have been busy for several 
days blowing up the railway southward. There was 
little firing during the past week. The town will 
respond cheerfully to Lord Roberts's request to hold 



MAFEKING. 425 

out another month. Fever is rife, but otherwise the 
health of the garrison is good, and all are well." 

^^ April 22. The situation is unchanged. The gar- 
rison is depressed at there being no signs of relief, but 
is as determined as ever to deprive the Boers of a 
crowning triumph on the western border. A case of 
whiskey realised $540 at a raffle, and a pound of flour 
was sold at auction for $10." 

" April 2"/. The Boers now number forty-five hun- 
dred, including young Eloff, President Kruger's grand- 
son, who has sent for six more guns." 

" May IT. As we near the end of the siege, condi- 
tions in this little town are perhaps becoming more 
cheerful. The rainy season is apparently over. The 
weather is splendid, and, consequently, the fever epi- 
demic is diminishing. Rations are still small ; but it 
is wonderful how little one needs for existence, and the 
new food, from horse and ox hides, is a great success. 
This food and porridge, the inventor of which has 
received a five-pound bonus from the government, is 
the equivalent of six weeks' additional provisions. The 
natives prefer it to any other. So that the siege has 
taught them a new food." 

Colonel Baden-Powell's hardest blow to the besiegers 
was the capture of Commandant Sarel Eloff, President 
Kruger's grandson, and his men, on May 12th. It is 
thus described in a despatch from Mafeking : 

" Eloff to-day fell into one of the various traps that 
have been left open for months. At 4 a. m. the enemy, 



426 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

who had been much strengthened during the last few 
days, feinted an attack on the eastern side of the town, 
while a large force, which during the night had crept 
along the river, guided by native rebels, who had 
chosen the craftiest detours, managed to enter the 
Baralong location. This they burned, and the huts of 
the natives were blazing fiercely for a distance of nearly 
a mile. 

" Then finding that they were unopposed, the Boers 
yelled, ' Come out, you skulkers ! To-day we take 
Mafeking ! ' Suddenly a Boer cried, * Run ! Here 
are the Rooineks ! ' Nearly all fled. 

" Captain Marsh opened fire from the fort on each 
side, cutting off and repulsing the main body of the 
Dutch, but driving the vanguard of about one hundred 
and fifty into the native location, which had been 
burned. 

"The enemy broke into two parties, one being 
penned in the stone cattle kraal, and the other hemmed 
in a hollow behind a kopje in the outer defences. They 
had no water, and but little food. 

" Meanwhile a strong party, estimated at five hun- 
dred, ran around the native location and reached the 
camp close to the railway. There they surprised and, 
after sharp fighting, captured Lieutenant-Colonel Hore, 
Captain Singleton, and veterinary surgeon Dunlop 
Smith, who for a time were penned with forty Boers in 
the oifices of the British South African Protectorate. 
This position was covered by our forts. 



MAFEKING. 427 

"The Boers were called upon to surrender, but they 
refused, and the fighting was resumed for some hours. 
The Boers lost heavily. Finally two parties of the 
enemy surrendered, one party escaping. The casual- 
ties are not yet fully known. The Boers lost about a 
hundred and fifty, but our casualties were under twenty. 
Mr. Angus Hamilton, correspondent of the London 
Tillies, is missing." 

This is how Mafeking took the relief which finally 
came to the weary ones : 

"Faintly from the northwest, about 1.30 p.m., May 
i6th, we heard the sound of artillery. Colonel Baden- 
Powell went up to the lookout. The women and 
children were on the house-tops, and most of the men 
were manning the works. 

" Major Mackenzie, of the headquarter's staff, tumbled 
down-stairs at three o'clock with a pigeon in his hand. 
In a few seconds the despatch was on the table and the 
code books were out. 

" Major Hanbury-Tracy cried out : 

" * They left Masibili this morning, and are coming 
in!' 

"The fight must have lasted three hours, when, 
through our glasses, the Boers could be seen stretching 
out in retreat. 

"At sunset the garrison seized the Standard and 
Diggers fort, and shelled the Boers as they passed. 
Darkness was drawing on when Maj. Karri Davis, with 
eight horsemen, entered Market Square. 



428 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

*' The town took the relief quietly. A trooper stopped 
a passer-by, and said : 

" * Hi ! hi ! We are the relief column ! ' 

"*0h, indeed,' said the citizen. 'We heard you 
were outside,' and the citizen proceeded on his errand. 

" ' Well, I'm d — d ! ' said the trooper, ' but he 
takes it pretty coolly, I should say.' 

"The party dismounted at the staff office, where a 
crowd gathered and cheered for the first time in seven 
months. Then the troops in the outer forts cheered. 

" When the relieving column marched in, at 4 A, m,, 
there was plenty of whiskey." 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

IN JUNE. 

"\T /"ITH General Roberts pushing on toward Pre- 
^ * toria, there was but Httle of importance ac- 
complished by the other British forces during the 
early part of June. Such news as came to Cape 
Town only served to show that here and there the 
queen's troops were content with holding what had 
already been won, while the Boers were gathering 
themselves together for what was, apparently, the 
last effort. 

In the briefest possible compass, the news at Cape 
Town, during June, was as follows : 

yzme I. General Brabant's Horse have been the 
subject of several small captures at the hands of the 
Boers. Lieutenant Rundle, with twenty men, while 
searching a farmhouse in the Fricksburg district, was 
captured, two of the men being wounded. Lieutenant 
Lees and two men were captured while "comman- 
deering." Another patrol of the border horse, number- 
ing twenty men, while pursuing a small party of 
Boers, were surrounded and captured. Count Gleichen 
sent thirteen men of the Provincial Horse, under 

429 



430 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Lieutenant Bowker, with a flag of truce to Senekal 
to demand the surrender of that place. The Boers 
captured the entire party, and after robbing the men 
of all but their clothing, sent them to Urede, whence 
some of them managed to escape. Most of those 
who succeeded in eluding their guards were recap- 
tured. 

June 2. Commandant Botha, of Zoutpansberg, his 
field-cornet, and one hundred prisoners, have been 
taken in the fighting around Johannesburg. 

June /. A convoy of fifty wagons, under escort 
of 150 Highlanders, was surrounded by the Boers 
between the Rhenoster River and Heilbron last even- 
ing. Messengers were sent to the nearest post ask- 
ing for assistance, but reinforcements were unable 
to reach them, and early this morning the Highland- 
ers surrendered to Gen. Christian De Wet. 

Lord Roberts telegraphed from Six Miles Spruit 
as follows: "We started this morning at daybreak 
and marched ten miles to Six Miles Spruit, both 
banks of which were occupied by the enemy. Henry 
and Ross's mounted infantry, with the West Somer- 
set, Dorset, Bedford, and Sussex companies of yeo- 
manry, quickly dislodged them from the south bank 
and pursued them nearly a mile, when they found 
themselves under a heavy fire from guns which the 
Boers had placed in a well-concealed, commanding 
position. Our heavy guns of the naval and royal 
artillery, which had purposely been placed in the 



IN JUNE. 431 

front part of the column, were hurried to the assist- 
ance of the mounted infantry as fast as oxen and 
mules could travel over the great, rolling hills sur- 
rounding Pretoria. The guns were supported by 
Stevenson's brigade of Pole-Carew's division, and, 
after a few rounds, drove the enemy from their posi- 
tion. The Boers then attempted to turn our left 
flank, in which they were again foiled by the mounted 
infantry and yeomanry, supported by Maxwell's bri- 
gade and Tucker's division. As, however, they still 
kept pressing our left rear, I sent word to Ian Hamil- 
ton, who was advancing between the two columns. 
This finally checked the enemy, who were driven 
back toward Pretoria. I had hoped we would have 
been able to follow them up, but the days now are 
very short in this part of the world, and, after nearly 
two hours' marching and fighting, we had to bivouac 
on the ground gained during the day. The Guards 
Brigade is quite near the southernmost fort by which 
Pretoria is defended and less than four miles from 
the town. French, with the 2d and 4th Cavalry 
brigades and Hutton's New South Wales mounted 
rifles, is north of Pretoria. Broadwood's brigade 
is between French's and Hamilton's columns, and 
Gordon is watching the right flank of the main force, 
not far from the railway bridge at Irene station, which 
was destroyed by the enemy," 

June 5. A telegram from Lord Roberts, dated at 
noon to-day, from Pretoria, announces the occupation 



432 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

of that city by the British forces. The commander- 
in-chief telegraphed as follows : " Just before dark, 
yesterday, the enemy were beaten back from nearly 
all the positions they had been holding, and Ian Ham- 
ilton's mounted infantry followed them to within two 
thousand yards of Pretoria, to which they retreated 
hastily. De Lisle then sent an officer with a flag of 
truce into the town, demanding its surrender in my 
name. Shortly before midnight I was awakened by 
two officials of the South African Republic, Sand- 
berg, military secretary to Commandant-General Botha, 
and a general officer of the Boer army, who brought 
me a letter from Botha, proposing an armistice for the 
purpose of settling the terms of surrender. I replied 
that I would gladly meet the commandant-general the 
next morning, but that I was not prepared to discuss 
any terms, as the surrender of the town must be un- 
conditional. I asked for a reply by daybreak, as I had 
ordered the troops to march on the town as soon as 
it was light. In his reply Botha told me that he had 
decided not to defend Pretoria, and that he trusted 
the women, children, and property would be protected. 
At I A, M. to-day, while on the line of march, I was 
met by three of the principal officials with a flag of 
truce, stating their wish to surrender the town. It 
was arranged that Pretoria should be taken posses- 
sion of by her Majesty's troops at 2 o'clock this 
afternoon." 

General BuUer and General Botha met to-day at 




PRESIDENT KKUGER. 



IN JUNE. 433 

Laing's Nek, at Buller's request, when a three days' 
armistice was agreed upon. 

The British have evacuated Utrecht. 

Jime 6. Lord Methuen has been fighting to-day to 
the north of Vetchkop. 

Among the officers of the 13th Imperial Yeomanry 
captured are the Earl of Leitrim, the Earl of Longford, 
and the Earl of Ennismore. 

June y. A force of two thousand Boers cut Lord 
Roberts's line of communication at Roodeval. The 
4th Battalion of the Derbyshire regiment was killed, 
wounded, or captured, with the exception of six men, 
who escaped. Thirty-six were killed and 104 wounded. 
The Boers returned the wounded to the British. The 
officers killed were Lieutenant-Colonel Baird-Douglas 
and Lieutenant Hawley. The wounded include Colonel 
Wilkinson and Lieutenant Blanchard, of the Canadian 
infantry. 

General Hunter's advance has occupied Ventersdorp, 
one hundred miles southwest of Pretoria. Colonel 
Plumer's column is on the Elands River, northwest of 
Pretoria. The British are sending detachments right and 
left to accept the surrenders of commandoes, horses, 
cattle, and forage, and to overawe the sparsely settled 
country. General Hunter's immediate objective is 
Potchefstroom. This town and Rustenburg are the 
largest towns west of Johannesburg. It is reported that 
Potchefstroom is ready to submit. General Hunter 
has warned all Burghers that, if the telegraph is cut 



434 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

behind him, he will send back and burn the houses 
near the line. 

The British lost nine wounded and eleven missing in 
an action at Vredefort to-day. 

June 8. General Buller sends from Yellow Boom 
Farm the following account of work done during the 
past two days : " On June 6th, Gen. Talbot Coke, 
with the loth Brigade and the South African light 
horse, seized Van Wyke Hill. The enemy made some 
resistance, and a good deal of sniping occurred. Our 
casualties were about four killed and thirteen wounded. 
During that day and the following we got our 4.7 and 
two i2-pounder naval guns on to Van Wyke Hill, and 
two 5-inch guns on to the southwestern spur on Ink- 
ewelo. Under cover of their fire General Hildyard to-day 
assaulted all the spurs of the bergs between Botha's Pass 
and Inkewelo. The attack, which was well planned by 
Hildyard and carried out with immense dash by the 
troops, for whom the mountains were too steep, out- 
flanked the enemy, who were forced to retire from their 
very strong position. Our casualties were one officer 
wounded, and two men killed and thirteen wounded." 

The executive offices of the Transvaal government 
are in a railway car, which is shunted on a switch at 
Machadorp station. President Kruger caused the in- 
terior of the coach to be reconstructed some time ago, 
with a view to contingencies that have now arrived. 

June g. Klerksdorp has surrendered to an armoured 
party sent on by General Hunter. 



IN JUNE. 435 

The enemy, in three columns, are near Honing. The 
railway has been almost completely destroyed between 
America and Roodeval. 

General Buller encamped to-night close to the point 
where the frontiers of the Free State, the Transvaal, 
and Natal meet. 

June lo. General Buller made the following official 
report this evening: "The force concentrated on the 
Klip River, at its junction with the Jansvlei, last night. 
We anticipated at that defile a force of the enemy 
about three thousand strong, who had,. I think, intended 
to occupy it, and who retired as soon as our heavy guns 
opened, which were very smartly brought into action by 
Major May, of the royal artillery, and Captain Jones, 
of the royal navy. The South African light horse and 
the 2d Cavalry Brigade were smartly engaged while 
covering our left front. Our casualties were twenty-six 
killed, 126 wounded, and two missing. 

Jime II. Another report from General Buller thus 
tells the story of his work up to to-night : " We forced 
Almond's Nek to-day. It is not marked on the map, 
but it is the last deiile to Charleston Flats. The enemy 
were in considerable force, with several guns in position. 
The brunt of the fighting fell on the 2d Dorsets, 
who carried the position at the point of the bayonet, 
and the 3d Cavalry Brigade, who were heavily at- 
tacked on our right from very broken country around 
Iketini Mountain." 

To-day, at Katsbosch, Lord Methuen's force had a 



436 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

brush with the enemy. British casualties, one killed 
and eighteen wounded. 

Fifteen hundred Boers surrendered to-day to General 
Brabant in the Fricksburg district. 

Two hundred and fifty Boers surrendered to General 
Hunter at Ventersdorp. 

June 12. Lord Roberts has telegraphed as follows 
to the War Office, from an outpost near Pretoria : " Pre- 
toria and Johannesburg are perfectly quiet, and several 
of the inhabitants have expressed gratitude for the 
peace and order which prevails. After surrendering 
the city, Botha retired to a place about fifteen miles 
east, in the Middleburg road. He had a small force 
at first, but during the last few days his numbers 
increased, and his being so near the town kept up 
the excitement in the country, prevented the Burghers 
from laying down their arms, and interfered with the 
collection of supplies. It therefore became necessary 
to attack him. This I did yesterday. He held a very 
strong position, practically unassailable in front, which 
enabled him to place the main portion of his troops 
on his flanks, which he knew from former experience 
were his vulnerable parts. I sent French, with Porter's 
and Dickson's cavalry brigades, and Hutton's mounted 
infantry, around by our left, and Ian Hamilton, with 
Broadwood's and Gordon's cavalry brigade, Ridley's 
mounted infantry, and Bruce Hamilton's infantry bri- 
gade around by our right. Both columns met with great 
opposition. At about three in the afternoon I saw twQ 



IN JUNE. 437 

of Hamilton's infantry battalions advancing to what ap- 
peared to be the key of the enemy's defence, on the left 
flank. This was almost gained before dark, and I or- 
dered the force to bivouac on the ground they had won. 
Pole-Carew, with his division, occupied our centre. As I 
have explained, he could not attack, but he gradually ad- 
vanced so as to support Ian Hamilton, and when I left 
the field he was on the line held by the enemy's out- 
posts in the morning. I hurried back to get news of Me- 
thuen's movement. On hearing that the Free Staters had 
taken advantage of our crossing the Vaal to interrupt our 
line of communication, I sent Kitchener, with such troops 
as I could then spare, to Vredefort, with orders to push 
south and communicate with Methuen, who, I knew, 
had a very compact force in the vicinity of Heilbron, 
I also despatched a special messenger to Methuen, in- 
structing him to push on at all speed to the main line 
of railway. These two officers met at Vredefort road 
station in the evening of June loth. They marched 
yesterday to Rhenoster River, where Methuen gained 
a complete victory over De Wet, and took possession 
of his camp, scattering his troops in all directions. 
He and Kitchener marched to-day toward Kroonstad, 
Hunter should be at Potchefstroom to-day. He will 
then move on Johannesburg. Our losses yesterday 
were not, I trust, serious, but I deplore the death 
of that gallant soldier, the Earl of Airlie. The only 
other casualties reported as yet are: i/th Lancers, 
Major Hon. Lionel Fortescue and Lieut. Hon. C. 



438 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Cavendish, both killed. The Boers evacuated their 
position last night. They had paid so much atten- 
tion to strengthening their flanks that the centre was 
weakly held, and as soon as this became evident I 
directed Ian Hamilton to attack to-day. He moved 
against Diamond Hill with the Sussex-Derbyshires 
and the City Imperial Volunteers, supported on the 
left by the Guards Brigade under Inigo Jones. Our 
seizure of Diamond Hill caused the Boers to feel 
that they were practically surrounded, and this re- 
sulted in their hasty retirement. They are being fol- 
lowed by some of our mounted corps. Hamilton spoke 
in highest terms of the troops engaged. Hamilton 
received a contusion from a shrapnel-bullet in the 
shoulder, but is not, I am happy to say, unable to per- 
form his duty." 

From General Kelly-Kenny, at Bloemfontein : " Our 
troops from the north are at Honing Spruit, south of 
Roodeval, where the Boers cut the British lines of com- 
munication, having defeated the enemy. They will be 
at America Siding to-morrow. General Knox moves 
out from Kroonstad to intercept the enemy." 

From General Buller, who is encamped four miles 
north of Volksrust : " Laing's Nek and Majuba were 
completely evacuated by the Boers last night. General 
Clery, from Ingogo, is now coming over the Nek. I 
have had to camp here for want of water." 

The War Office casualty returns, up to to-day, aggre- 
gate 23,664, besides 792 officers and 12,355 ^^^'^ §^P-t 



IN JUNE. 439 

home as invalids, but not including the sick in South 
African hospitals. 

June I J. From Lord Roberts, at Pretoria : " Me- 
thuen advanced to Honing Spruit yesterday, and found 
all quiet. Kroonstad is strongly held. Methuen re- 
turned to-day to Rhenoster River, where the railway 
is being repaired. We were all engaged yesterday with 
Botha's army. The enemy fought with considerable 
determination, and held our cavalry on both flanks ; but 
Ian Hamilton, assisted by the Guards Brigade, of Pole- 
Carew's division, pushing forward, took the hill in his 
front, which caused the enemy to fall back on their 
second position to the eastward. This they are still 
holding. It is slightly higher than the one we have 
captured. The great extent of country which has to 
be covered, under modern conditions of warfare, renders 
progress very slow. The enemy evacuated their strong 
position during the night, and have retired to the east- 
ward. Buller's force and mine have afforded each other 
mutual assistance. Our occupation of Pretoria caused 
numbers of Boers to withdraw from Laing's Nek, and 
Buller's advance to Volksrust made them feel their rear 
would be shortly endangered." 

June i^. General Kitchener reports that the Boers 
attacked a construction train early this morning a few 
miles north of Rhenoster River. He sent mounted 
troops and drove off the enemy before they could do 
damage. One man was killed, and eleven, including 
two officers, were wounded. 



440 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

General Lyttleton has received the formal submission 
of the town and district of Wakkerstroom, which the 
enemy is believed to have completely evacuated. 

June 1 6. From Lord Roberts, at Pretoria : " Rus- 
tenburg was occupied yesterday by Baden-Powell. A 
column starts from this place to-morrow to meet Baden- 
Powell and repair the telegraph lines between Pretoria 
and Rustenburg. Hunter is moving from Potchef- 
stroom. His advance brigade expects to reach Johan- 
nesburg June 19th. Buller, I hope, is at Standerton. 
Heidelberg will be occupied from this place shortly, 
and then the Orange River colony will be completely 
cut off from the Transvaal. Baden-Powell reports that 
the district through which he passed is settling down 
satisfactorily. Over one thousand stands of arms were 
surrendered, and Hans Eloff and Piet Kruger, sons of 
the President, were to make submission to him yester- 
day, having been previously disarmed on their farms. 
Botha's army has retired, and is believed to be at Mid- 
dleburg. His rear-guard was surprised and entirely 
routed by Ian Hamilton's mounted infantry." 

June ly. The Boers attacked Fricksburg this morn- 
ing, but were driven off. ' 

In an attack on the railway pioneers near the Zand 
River, to-day, the Boers were driven off, but Major Sey- 
mour, commanding the pioneers, was killed. He was 
an American, and was formerly employed in the Rand. 

Ju7te 18. General Hunter's advance column occu- 
pied Krugersdorp without opposition. 



IN JUNE. 441 

June ip. General Methuen, who was escorting a 
large convoy to Heilbron to-day, routed a force under 
Christian De Wet, who endeavoured to prevent him 
from entering the little town. Methuen had only three 
casualties. 

Jtme 20. Sir Charles Warren reports that the re- 
bellion in Cape Colony, north of the Orange River, is 
now over. The last formidable body, under Comman- 
dant De Villiers, surrendered to-day, consisting of about 
220 men, 280 horses, eighteen wagons, 260 rifles, and 
100,000 rounds of ammunition. 

Jme 22. General Rundle had a sharp artillery and 
rifle skirmish near Senekal to-day with a large force of 
entrenched Boers. He declined to attack them. 

General Dundonald, with the 3d Cavalry Brigade, 
occupied Standerton to-day without opposition. The 
Burghers left yesterday, after having blown up the rail- 
road bridge and doing other damage. The infantry 
marched twenty-two miles to-day, and camped at Kaats- 
bosch Spruit to-night. 

General Hunter's advance brigade reached Johannes- 
burg, toward Heidelberg, to-day. 

June 2^. General Hamilton occupied Heidelberg 
to-day. The Boers fled. President Kruger's sons, who 
surrendered to General Baden-Powell, are back on their 
farms and working peacefully. 

General De Wet's farmhouses have been burned by 
the British, 

June 24. From Lord Roberts : " General Clements 



442 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

successfully engaged a body of Boers yesterday, near 
Wynberg, where he had gone to pick up supplies and 
some heavy guns, preparatory to acting in combination 
with Collins from Lindley, Heilbron, and Heidelberg. 
He drove the enemy north of Sandspruit with loss. 
No casualties are reported. Hutton's mounted infantry 
skirmished with the Boers yesterday, a few miles south- 
east of Pretoria. Captain Anley is reported to have 
managed the little business very well. Lieutenant 
Crispin and one of the Northumberland Fusiliers were 
wounded." 

Jiine 26. From Lord Roberts : " Paget reports 
from Lindley that he was engaged to-day with a body 
of the enemy who were strongly reinforced during the 
day. A convoy of stores from the Lindley garrison 
was also attacked to-day, but, after a heavy rear-guard 
action, the convoy reached Lindley in safety. Our 
casualties were ten killed, and four officers and about 
fifty men wounded. A small force of mounted troops, 
with two guns, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Grenfel, was attacked by the enemy under Prefers 
and Nel, this morning, seven miles north of Senekal. 
They beat off the enemy and burned their laager. 
Our casualties were three killed and twenty-three 
wounded." 

Victoria Crosses have been bestowed on Maj. John 
Phillips Hornby, Sergeant Parker, and Driver Glass- 
cock, of Q Battery, Royal Artillery, for conspicuous 
bravery in saving four guns from the convoy disaster at 



IN JUNE. 443 

Korn Spruit, or Karee Siding, Orange Free State, 
March 31st of the present year. 

June ^7. From Lord Roberts : " The enemy attacked 
our Roodeval Spruit post on the railway yesterday, but 
were easily beaten off by a detachment of the Derby- 
shire light infantry, the West. Australian mounted, a 
15-pounder, and an armoured train. Baden-Powell re- 
ports the capture of an influential Boer named Ray, 
who was endeavouring to raise a commando in the 
Rustenburg district. A patrol brought in over one 
hundred rifles. More than four thousand rifles and one 
thousand inferior pieces have been taken during the 
last few days." 

General Botha's force continues encamped east of 
Bronkerspruit. There is an occasional exchange of 
shots between the patrols. 

Sarel Eloff, President Kruger's grandson, who was 
captured by the British at Mafeking, was landed at 
St. Helena to-day, with eleven officers and ninety-eight 
troopers, mostly foreigners. The prisoners, who were 
clean and of respectable appearance, were immediately 
sent to Deadwood, the prison camp. 

Twenty-one war correspondents have been killed or 
have died of disease during the war. In this respect 
the London Daily Mail has been particularly unfortu- 
nate, ten of its representatives having been put out of 
service by death or illness. 

Jtme 28. From Lord Roberts : " Methuen found 
to-day that the Boer laager near Vachkop and Spitzkop 



444 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

had been hastily removed in the direction of Lindley. 
He followed the enemy twelve miles, and captured 
eight thousand sheep and five hundred head of cattle, 
which the enemy had seized in that neighbourhood. 
Our casualties were four men wounded. Hunter contin- 
ued his march to-day toward the Vaal River unopposed. 
A few farmers along the route have surrendered. 
Springs, the terminus of the railway from Johannes- 
burg, due east, was attacked early this morning. The 
Canadian regiment, which garrisons the place, beat off 
the enemy. No casualties are reported," 

Commandant De Wet, with three thousand men and 
three guns, is moving northeast in the Orange River 
Colony. It is understood that he and Commandant- 
General Botha entered into a compact that neither 
would surrender so long as the other was in the 
field. 

June JO. Active guerilla operations are reported 
from half a dozen points in Orange River Colony. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



ANNEXATION. 



A S in the case of the Civil War in the United States, 
•^^- the end of the Anglo-Boer war could be seen by 
those versed in military affairs several months before 
the close was officially announced, and the annexation 
of the Transvaal to the British Empire showed that 
the critics were correct as to the " staying " powers of 
the Boers. 

The work done by Lord Roberts and his officers dur- 
ing the months of July and August, although arduous, 
and of a nature to severely try the tempers of the men, 
was not marked by any severe battles or decisive en- 
gagements of a sensational character. It was the steady 
advance and the constant blows which caused the sur- 
render of commando after commando until there was 
no longer a force sufficient of the enemy to carry on 
anything save a guerrilla warfare. 

The movements of both armies during the months of 
July and August may be set down briefly, to the advan- 
tage of both student and casual reader. 

On the 1st of July General Hunter arrived at Frank- 
fort without opposition, and on the following day he 

445 



446 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

was joined by General MacDonald. July 2d Methuen 
reported from Paardekraal, on the Heilbron-Kroonstad 
road, that he had captured the commander of De Wet's 
scouts, two other prisoners, and Wessels, the head of 
the Afrikander bund. 

July 2. General Clery occupied Greylingstad with- 
out opposition, but met with a great deal of sniping. 

Com. Philip Botha released under heavy bail, con- 
ditionally upon his residing at Aliwal North until the 
conclusion of his preliminary examination. 

July J. General Paget successfully engaged the 
enemy at Pleisinfontein, and drove them across Leeuw- 
kop to Bronerifontein. About one o'clock in the morn- 
ing of this day the Boers attacked Fricksburg garrison, 
but were driven off after forty-five minutes' fighting. 

The following report was issued by the War Office of 
British casualties in South Africa since the beginning 
of the war : " The total losses, exclusive of sick and 
wounded, have been 29,706, of which the killed in action 
were 254 officers and 2,403 non-commissioned officers 
and men ; missing and prisoners, 65 officers and 2,624 
non-commissioned officers and men ; died of disease, 133 
officers, and 4,204 non-commissioned officers and men ; 
invalided home, 844 officers and 18,433 non-commis- 
sione:d officers and men." 

July /f.. General Paget, who advanced to Blaaw kopje, 
fifteen miles northwest of Bethlehem, reported that all 
of Steyn's government officials, except the treasurer- 
general, who has gone to Vere, are at Bethlehem, which 



ANNEXATION. 447 

has been proclaimed the capital. Steyn left Bethlehem, 
on the night of July 4th for Fouriesburg, between Beth- 
lehem and Fricksburg, accompanied by Christian De Wet 
and other Free State commanders, with troops reported 
numbering 3,000 men. 

The Boers made a determined but unsuccessful 
attempt to retake Fricksburg. 

July 5. General Brabant occupied Boranberg, be- 
tween Senekal and Winburg, which served as a base 
for bands assailing convoy. 

Commandant Limmer tried to recapture Rustenburg, 
but was driven back. 

July 6. Thirty-four of Strathcona's Horse, under 
Lieutenant Anderson, were attacked by two hundred 
Boers east of Standerton. The British soon took pos- 
session of a kopje, upon which they withstood the attack 
of the enemy. 

Colonel Mahon of General Hutton's mounted troops, 
on July 6th and 7th engaged three thousand Boers 
east of Broenkerspruit and drove them off. The 
British casualties were thirty-three. 

July 7. Generals Clements and Paget entered Beth- 
lehem. The former, nearing the town, sent in a flag of 
truce demanding its surrender, which was refused by 
De Wet, when Paget, making a wide turning movement, 
succeeded in getting hold of the enemy's most impor- 
tant position, covering the town. This was carried be- 
fore dark, by the Munster fusiliers and Yorkshire light 
infantry. The following morning the attack was con- 



448 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

tinued, and by noon the town was in possession of the 
British and the enemy in full retreat. 

A convoy was passing Greylingstad, and before 
reaching a defile in the hills the Boers shelled the 
advancing columns. Colonel Thorneycroft's men occu- 
pied the hills to the right of the narrow pass, keeping 
the Boers back on a ridge to the left while the infantry 
deployed in plain sight, and the artillery occupied a posi- 
tion under the ridge. The Boers worked their guns 
rapidly, but the howitzers replied with effect, and drove 
them back over the ridge. 

July 8. Hunter's cavalry, under Broadwood, arrived 
at Bethlehem, with the main force nine miles away. 

Baden-Powell arrived at Rustenburg without oppo- 
sition. 

General Hutton was attacked by a large force, which 
he beat off, sustaining but one casualty. 

July g. At a meeting of the Afrikander women at 
Cape Town, called to protest against the annexation of 
the Republics to the British Empire and the punish- 
ment of the rebels, Mrs. Olive Schreiner Cronweight de- 
nounced the British policy. She said she was ashamed 
of her British descent, and added : " If the Republics 
are annexed, peace is impossible. Every trench of Boer 
dead is a grave of England's honour. Every bullet mak- 
ing a Boer wound also finds a billet in the hearts of 
the Empire." 

July 10. The War Office has issued another casualty 
list, showing that, during the week ending July 7th, there 



ANNEXATION. 449 

were killed, wounded, or captured, fifteen officers and 
1 80 men ; accidental, two men ; died of disease, four 
officers, 194 men; invalided home, seventy-two officers 
and 1,306 men. The total casualties as a result of the 
war are 48,188 officers and men. 

July II. Colonel Mahon, reinforced by General 
French's brigade, took all the positions held by the 
Boers in the neighbourhood of Rietfontein. A number 
of Boer dead were found. The British casualties were 
trifling. 

July 12. From Lord Roberts, dated Pretoria, July 
1 2th : " The enemy, having failed in their attack upon 
our right rear, as mentioned in my telegram of July 9th, 
made a determined attack upon our right flank yester- 
day, and, I regret to say, succeeded in capturing Nitral's 
Nek, which was garrisoned by a squadron of Scots 
Greys, with two guns of a battery of the Royal artillery, 
and five companies of the Lincolnshire regiment. The 
enemy attacked in superior numbers at dawn, and seiz- 
ing the hills commanding the Nek, brought a heavy gun 
fire to bear upon the small garrison. Nitral's Nek is 
about eighteen miles from here, near where the road 
crosses the Crocodile River. It was held by us in order 
to maintain road and telegraphic communication with 
Rustenburg. The fighting lasted more or less through- 
out the day, and immediately on receiving information 
early this morning of the enemy's strength, I despatched 
reinforcements from here, under Colonel Godfrey, of the 
King's Own Scottish Borderers. Before, however, they 



450 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

reached the spot, the garrison had been overpowered, 
and the guns and a greater portion of the squadron of 
the Greys had been captured, owing to the horses being 
shot ; also about ninety men of the Lincoln regiment. 
A list of the casualties has not been received, but I fear 
they are heavy. 

" Simultaneously, an attack was made on our outposts, 
near Burdepoort, north of that town, in which the 7th 
Dragoons were engaged. The regiment was handled 
with considerable skill by Lieutenant-Colonel Low, and 
would probably have suffered but slight loss had not 
one troop mistaken some Boers for our men. 

" Smith-Dorrien had a successful engagement with 
the enemy yesterday, near Krugersdorp, and inflicted 
heavy loss on them. 

" Buller reports that the Boers who were destroying 
his line of railway, near Paardekraal, were driven off 
yesterday after a short action. 

" Hart reports from Heidelberg that the surrendering 
of Boer guns and ammunition continues in that district." 
July i^. The British engaged the Boers all day near 
Platkop. Scouts and mounted infantry, moving north, 
located the Boers, a thousand strong, occupying a ridge. 
Colonel Thorneycroft's men held the ridge facing them. 
Members of the Strathcona Horse were driven tempo- 
rarily from the ridge by the heavy musketry fire. After 
a stubborn resistance, the Boers forced the British to 
bring the howitzers into action. The infantry deployed 
for a general advance under Clery's direction. The 



ANNEXATION. 45 1 

Boers opened fire in all directions, shelling with the guns 
posted on the British right. The mounted infantry in 
the face of the fire attacked the Boers. A gun posted 
on an entrenched kopje, four miles to the east, forced 
the Boers from a number of ridges, detached parties 
retiring on the centre, while a gun on the right was 
withdrawn through a ravine toward an entrenched hill. 

Jtily i6. The Boers attacked Carew and Hunter. 
British casualties, seven killed, thirty wounded, twenty- 
one missing. 

July ig. Under this date Lord Roberts telegraphed 
from Pretoria : " Methuen occupied Heckpoort to-day 
without any opposition to speak of. Ian Hamilton and 
Mahon continued their march along the country north 
of the Delagoa Bay railroad. Hunter is reconnoitring 
the positions occupied by the Free Staters between 
Bethlehem and Fricksburg. 

On the same day, General Little, temporarily com- 
manding the 3d Brigade, reported that he came in con- 
tact, near Lindley, with De Wet's force, which broke 
through Hunter's cordon. The fighting lasted until 
dusk, when De Wet's force, being repulsed, broke into 
two parties. Little's casualties were slight. He buried 
five Boers, 

The Boers wrecked a hospital train between Kru- 
gersdorp and Potchefstroom. 

July 21. The Boers made a determined attack to 
destroy a post at the rail head, thirteen miles east of 
Heidelberg, which they attacked with three guns and 



452 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

a "pom-pom," and surrounded. They were, however, 
beaten off, after a sharp engagement, before reinforce- 
ments summoned from Heidelberg had arrived. 

Lord Roberts reports that on this night a train was 
captured between Kroonstad and the Vaal, and that it 
contained supplies, two officers, and one hundred men 
of the Welsh fusiliers. 

July 22. Baden-Powell's report : " Colonels Arey and 
Lushington, with 450 men, drove one thousand Boers 
from a very strong position and scattered them, with 
considerable loss. Our casualties were six killed and 
nineteen wounded." 

General Knox's report : " Have followed command 
since July i6th. Hard, sharp fighting at Palmeitfon- 
tein, July 19th. Prevented from pursuing by darkness. 
Eight dead Boers found. Our casualties, five killed 
and seventy-six wounded. Vaalkrantz to-day. Enemy 
doubled back in darkness. Shall march to-morrow to 
Rhoode Vaal station. Send supplies for three thou- 
sand men and horses, also any news of the enemy's 
movements. I believe the command consists of two 
thousand men and four guns, and is accompanied by 
President Steyn and both the De Wets. The wire and 
main line of the railway north of Honing Spruit have 
been cut, and also the telegraph to Pretoria via Potchef- 
stroora. According to my information De Wet crossed 
the railway and is going north." 

Kelly-Kenny's report from Bloemfontein : " The 
railway has been cut north of Honing Spruit, and a 



ANNEXATION. 453 

supply-train and a hundred Highlanders captured by 
the enemy. A report was received this morning that 
a large force of the enemy is moving on Honing Spruit. 
All communication with Pretoria is cut off. The second 
and third cavalry brigades are following the enemy." 

Lord Roberts's report : " Methuen continued his 
march after the occupation of Heckpoort, and engaged 
the enemy's rear -guard at Zingsfontein, July 20th. 
Casualties, one killed and one wounded. Early Satur- 
day he attacked the enemy again at Oliphant's Nek and 
completely dispersed them, inflicting heavy loss. Our 
casualties were slight. By these successes, Rustenburg 
has been relieved, and Methuen and Baden-Powell have 
joined hands. Hunter reports that Bruce Hamilton 
secured a strong position on the Spitzray yesterday with 
a battery of the Cameron Highlanders and five hundred 
mounted men." 

General Carrington reports that his Rhodesian force 
had their first fight at Selons River, carrying the posi- 
tion after a sharp engagement, in which he lost four 
killed and nineteen wounded. 

July 2^. Two despatches from Lord Roberts under 
this date : 

" Vandermerwe Station. — We made a general ad- 
vance yesterday from the position we have been holding, 
east of Pretoria, since June 12th. Gen. Ian Hamil- 
ton, from the north, reached Rustfontein, seven miles 
north of Bronkhorst Spruit, on July 2 2d. This so com- 



454 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

pletely surrounded the enemy's line of retreat that they 
abandoned the strong position they had been occupy- 
ing in front of Pole-Carew. Stephenson's brigade ad- 
vanced yesterday, unopposed, to Elands River station. 
Our right was protected by the ist and 4th brigades of 
cavalry, under French, and Hutton's mounted infantry. 
The former crossed east of Wilge River." 

" Bronkhorst Spruit. — We marched here to-day 
unopposed, but French's cavalry and Hutton's mounted 
infantry, making a wide detour on our right, met bodies 
of the enemy. These were driven back, leaving several 
dead and wounded. A good many were also captured. 
Our casualties were one killed. Broadwood reports that 
he captured five of De Wet's wagons to-day. He was 
waiting at Vredefort until Little joined him." 

July 2^. Lord Roberts telegraphed from Balmoral, 
under this date : " We marched here yesterday without 
seeing the enemy. The Boers on July 24th engaged 
French and Hutton six miles south of Balmoral. While 
Anderson's mounted infantry attacked the Boers' right, 
French made a turning movement around their left. 
Seeing their retreat threatened, the Boers broke and 
fled. French and Hutton followed and proposed to 
cross Oliphant's River to-day at Naauwpoort. Our 
casualties were one wounded." 

July 26. On this day Lord Roberts reports : "French 
and Hutton continued their pursuit on July 25th. The 



ANNEXATION. 455 

former crossed Oliphant's River and from the high 
ground on the east bank he could see Middleburg, 
and the enemy retiring in great disorder. The main 
road, north, was black for several miles with horsemen 
and wagons. The enemy's rear was then seven miles 
north. The mounted force were still vilest of the river. 
Night was closing in, the rain was falling in torrents, 
and so it was impossible to follow. The night was ter- 
rible. In addition to the rain, a strong east wind made 
the bivouac most uncomfortable. One officer, I regret 
to say, died of exposure, and the mortality among the 
mules and oxen was great. The men made light of 
hardships, and were in famous spirit when I saw them 
yesterday. 

" Hunter has occupied Fouriesburg, and, so far as I 
know, did not suffer loss. 

" The enemy in the Bethlehem Hills are now closed 
in upon. Basutoland is closed to them. Harrismith is 
the only line open ; and it will not be easy for them to 
reach there with guns and wagons. 

" Broadwood is still watching Christian De Wet, who 
has taken up a position on high hills near Reitzburg, 
about seven miles south of the Vaal. 

" P. De Wet, a brother of Christian, surrendered at 
Kroonstad yesterday. 

" Methuen's column, which reached the Krugersdorp- 
Potchefstroom railway, is now moving on to Potchef- 
stroom. 

" Buller reports that the railway was opened to 



456 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Heidelberg yesterday, giving us through communica- 
tion to Natal." 

July 2^. From Pretoria Lord Roberts telegraphed : 
"On July 25th MacDonald fought a rear-guard action 
with the enemy, from early morning until dark, nine 
miles outside of Naauwpoort, in the Bethlehem Hills, 
resulting in his effectually blocking Naauwpoort Nek 
to the Boer wagons. 

" Hunter reports that the enemy twice checked his 
advance by holding strong positions on two neks, one 
of which was taken before dark by the Scots, the 
Royal Irish, the Wiltshire, and the Leinster regiments. 
The second nek was taken during the night by the Scots 
Guards without opposition. Prisoners taken stated that 
twelve hunred Burghers would surrender if guaranteed 
that they would be treated as prisoners of war and not as 
rebels. To this I had assented. As a result of these 
operations, Prinsloo, commanding the Boers, asked, under 
a flag of truce this morning, a four days' armistice for 
peace negotiations. Hunter replied that the only terms 
he could accept were unconditional surrender, and until 
these were complied with hostilities could not cease." 

A later despatch reports that Prinsloo, and 3,348 
Boers surrendered unconditionally, bringing in 3,046 
horses. 

July 2g. General French occupied Middleburg, in 
the Transvaal, and General Pole-Carew, with the Guards 
brigade arrived at Brug Spruit, twenty miles west of 
Middleburg. 



ANNEXATION. 45 7 

July ^o. Lord Roberts returned to Pretoria. Gen- 
eral Baden-Powell besieged at Rustenburg in western 
Transvaal. The relief force sent to his succour proved 
too weak to be effective, and returned to Pretoria. 

July J I. Liebeberg's commando attacked General 
Smith-Dorrien near Potchefstroom, but was easily re- 
pulsed. 

Gen. Ian Hamilton sent to Rustenburg to relieve 
Baden-Powell's garrison. 

Seven hundred and fifty additional Boers surrendered 
to General Hunter. 

August I. Commandant-General Botha sent a mes- 
senger to Lord Roberts, asking for confirmation of the 
report of the surrender of General Prinsloo, and request- 
ing permission to communicate with Gen. Christian 
De Wet. 

A Boer force was attacked by General Knox, near 
the railway, north of Kroonstad. 

August 2. Gen. Ian Hamilton, continuing his 
movement toward Rustenburg, engaged the Boers in 
the Magallesberg range. The British lost forty-one 
wounded. 

A train was derailed and attacked by the Boers twenty 
miles south of Kroonstad, four men being killed and 
three wounded. Lord Algernon Lennox and forty 
men were made prisoners, but were released at the 
request of the American consul, Stowe, who was in 
the train. 

Twelve hundred Boers, with Commandants Rouse, 



45^ FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Fontanel, Deploy, Potgieter, and Joubert, surrendered. 
The Boer general, Olivier, with five guns and fifteen 
hundred Burghers broke away from Hunter in the 
Harrismith district. 

August ^. General Pole-Carew occupied Belfast, near 
Machaddoorp, without opposition. 

Harrismith surrendered. 

Lord Roberts reports : " Kitchener is with the force 
south of Vaal River. He was joined yesterday by a 
strong detachment of Brabant's horse and the Canadian 
regiment. The Boers attacked the garrison at Elands 
River this morning." 

August y. From Lord Roberts, dated this day, at 
Pretoria : " Delarey, hearing of Ian Hamilton's approach 
toward Rustenburg, and seeing that he had no chance 
of capturing Baden-Powell, hurried off to Elands River. 
Hamilton reported that firing in the Eland River direction 
ceased yesterday, and that Lieutenant-Colonel Hoare's 
garrison had evidently been captured. Hamilton left 
Rustenburg this morning, bringing Baden-Powell's force 
with him. De Wet commenced crossing the Vaal River 
yesterday. Kitchener is now moving in pursuit." 

General Buller occupied Amerspoort. The enemy 
retired before his force about six miles before Amers- 
poort was reached. The casualties were twenty 
wounded. 

General Methuen engaged a portion of De Wet's force 
near Benterskroom. He drove the enemy off of a suc- 
cession of hills, which they held obstinately. The 



ANNEXATION. 459 

British casualties were seven men killed or wounded, 
including four officers. 

Hunter reported that he had taken 4,140 prisoners in 
the Bethlehem-Harrismith district. Three guns and four 
thousand horses were captured, and ten wagon-loads of 
ammunition and 195,000 pounds of ammunition were 
destroyed. 

August 8. General Kitchener engaged De Wet's rear- 
guard near Lin deque. 

August g. A rear-guard action was fought by General 
Methuen, near Buffelshock. The British captured six 
wagons and two ambulances, 

A plot to shoot all the British officers, and to make 
Lord Roberts a prisoner, was discovered at Pretoria. 
Ten of the ringleaders were arrested. Everything was 
prepared. The conspirators numbered about fifteen. 
They had planned to set fire to the houses in the ex- 
treme western parts of the city, hoping that the troops 
would be concentrated there. The plan was that then 
the conspirators were forcibly to enter all houses occu- 
pied by British officers, these having been previously 
marked, and to kill the occupants. 

General Methuen engaged a portion of De Wet's 
force near Bankerskroom, and lost seven men, including 
four officers, 

August 12. Methuen and Kitchener, following 
De Wet and Steyn, reached Modderfontein, ten miles 
east of Ventersdorp, Methuen remaining in touch with 
De Wet's rear-sruard. 



460 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

August ij. Kitchener reported from Schoolplaats, 
eight miles east of Ventersdorp, that De Wet blew up 
three of his own wagons. 

Lord Roberts telegraphed : " Six British prisoners, 
who escaped from De Wet's camp, state that Mr. Steyn 
is confined in the camp under surveillance, and that 
De Wet was forced to abandon his ammunition and 
thirty horses. They also confirm the report that 
Methuen captured one of De Wet's guns and shelled 
the main convoy effectively. Ian Hamilton telegraphs 
that he hopes to be at Blaauwbank to-day with his 
main body. Mahon's mounted troops are pushing on 
to the westward." 

August 16. A despatch from Pretoria contained the 
following : " General De Wet has managed to elude 
General Kitchener, in spite of the fact that all the 
British wagons had double teams of picked animals. 
The Boers evaded the British by marching at night 
over ground known to them, while their pursuers were 
obliged to march in the daytime." 

August ly. Ian Hamilton captured two Krupp guns 
at Oliphant's Nek, losing three men wounded. 

Lord Kitchener, after a forced march, relieved 
Colonel Hoare and the British garrison at Elands 
River. 

Lord Roberts's proclamation, issued to-day, after 
reciting the fact that many have broken the oath to 
maintain neutrality, and that the leniency extended 
to the Burghers is not appreciated, warns all who break 



ANNEXATION. 46 1 

their oaths in the future that they will be punished by 
death, imprisonment, or fine. He declares that all 
Burghers in districts occupied by the British, except 
those who take the oath, will be regarded as prisoners 
of war and transported, and that buildings on farms 
where the enemy or his scouts are harboured will be 
liable to be razed. 

Lieutenant Cordua, of the Staats artillery, charged 
with being concerned in the plot to kidnap Lord Rob- 
erts, was put on trial to-day at Pretoria. The prisoner 
admitted his implication, but declared that he was over- 
persuaded to join the conspiracy by a man named 
Gano, who was the originator of the plot, and who 
claimed to have been in the British secret service, but 
wanted to assist the Boers. 

August ig. Rundle reported that 684 Boers had 
surrendered in the Harrismith district. 

Hamilton engaged the Boers all day at Roode kopjes 
and Crocodile River. There were few fatalities. 

August 20. Paget and Baden-Powell engaged the 
commandoes protecting De Wet. British loss : one 
officer and one man killed ; one officer and six men 
wounded. 

Lord Roberts confirmed the award of the queen's 
scarf to trooper Chadwick, of Roberts's Horse, who was 
chosen by the troopers as most distinguished for 
bravery. Chadwick is an American ; he was one of 
the boat's crew who cut the cables at Cienfuegos. 

August 21. General Roberts reports : " Lieutenant 



462 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

Colonel Sitwell, reconnoitring near Ventersburg, en- 
gaged the Boers. Two British were wounded. Lieu- 
tenants Spedding, Davenport, Surtees, and Watson, and 
a medical officer and twenty-four men, are missing. 
Hamilton has crossed the Crocodile River. Buller's 
division marched to Vanwycksvlei, fifteen miles south 
of Belfast. His casualties were seven killed, twenty- 
two wounded, and five missing." 

Paget reported from Hammanskraal that Baden- 
Powell engaged Grobler's rear -guard all day. Grobler 
was driven back east of Pienaars River. Baden-Powell 
occupied the railway station of that name. 

The Boers blew up a portion of the railway at 
Koetze's drift, five miles north of Newcastle, and 
damaged the rails at a point thirty miles south of 
Newcastle. 

August 22. Baden-Powell rescued one hundred 
British prisoners at Warm Baths, and captured twenty- 
five Boers and a German artillery officer. 

While reconnoitring in the Komati valley, Rundle 
found 140,000 rounds of ammunition buried. 

August 2^. Lord Roberts left Pretoria and fixed his 
headquarters at Wonderfontein, the second station west 
of Machaddoorp, where the bulk of the Boers in arms 
are supposed to be. Wiring from there, he says : " Bul- 
ler reports the Boers laid a trap for his cavalry to-day, 
opening with several guns at fairly short range. The 
English guns silenced the Boers, but when the firing 
ceased, and the pickets were being placed for the night, 



ANNEXATION. 463 

by some mistake two companies of the Liverpool regi- 
ment advanced fifteen hundred yards into a hollow, 
out of sight of the main body, where they were 
surrounded by Boers, and suffered severely." 

The Liverpools lost ten men killed and forty-six 
wounded- In addition, there were thirty-two missing. 
General Buller's other casualties to-day were twenty 
men killed, wounded, or missing. General French, with 
four brigades of cavalry, is moving east of Machad- 
doorp. 

Aiigtist 2^. Lieutenant Cordua, of the Staats artil- 
lery, who was convicted on the 23d of being a ring- 
leader in the plot to abduct General Roberts and kill 
British officers, was shot at Pretoria. 

August 2^. General Pole-Carew came into touch 
with the Boers at their main position at Dalmanutha, 
and shelled a plantation east of Belfast. The Boers 
replied with long-range guns. General French, on 
General Buller's flank, exchanged shots with the 
Boers, but no damage was done. An artillery duel 
also occurred on the British front. 

August 26. Two despatches from Lord Roberts at 
Belfast. The first : " Engaged the enemy the greater 
part of the day over a perimeter of nearly thirty miles. 
Lyttleton's division and two brigades of cavalry, all 
under Buller, operated southwest of Dalmanutha. 
French, with two brigades of cavalry, moVed north- 
west of Belfast, driving the enemy to Lekenvly, on 
the Belfast-Lydenburg road. As soon as French 



464 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

reached Lekenvly, Pole-Carew advanced from Belfast 
in support. The enemy, in considerable strength, op- 
posed Buller's and Pole-Carew's advance. He brought 
three long-toms and many other guns and pom-poms 
into action. The firing, until dark, was hot and per- 
sistent. The Boers are making a determined stand. 
They have a large number of guns, and the country 
is difficult, and well suited for their tactics, being less 
favourable to cavalry than any we have hitherto worked 
over." 

The second despatch : " The Boers have been beaten 
back by Bruce Hamilton in Winburg. General Olivier 
has been captured. Our casualties to-day were won- 
derfully few, considering the heavy firing and the num- 
ber of hours we were engaged. Buller estimates his as 
two killed and twenty-four wounded. The casualties 
of the force operating north of Belfast were three 
killed and thirty-four wounded." 

Lord Roberts also announced that three of Olivier's 
sons were also captured in the attack which the Boers 
made on Winburg. 

August 2"/. Under this date, from Belfast, Lord 
Roberts telegraphed : " Our movements are slow on 
account of the extent and nature of the country. To- 
day we made a satisfactory advance, and met with 
decided success. The work fell entirely to Buller's 
troops, and resulted in the capture of Bergendal, a 
very strong position two miles northwest of Dal- 
manutha. French advanced on the left to Swartz- 



ANNEXATION. 465 

kop, on the Lydenburg road, and prepared the way 
for the movements of Pole-Carew's division to-morrow. 
Baden-Powell reports that he occupied Nylstroom 
without opposition." 

August 28. From Lord Roberts : " Buller's advance 
occupied Machaddoorp this afternoon. The enemy 
made a very poor stand, and retired northward followed 
by Dundonald's mounted troops, who could not pro- 
ceed beyond Helvetia, on account of the difficult nature 
of the country, and the enemy taking a position too 
strong to be dislodged by the mounted troops. French 
continued the movement to-day as far as Elandsfontein, 
from which he turned the enemy out with no difficulty. 
The latter retired very rapidly, leaving cooked food 
behind." 

August ^i. President Kruger and his chief officials 
are at Nelspruit, about sixty miles from the Portuguese 
border, on the railroad between Pretoria and Delagoa 
Bay. 

September i. A private despatch from Pretoria con- 
tained the following : " Mr. Kruger and Mr. Steyn have 
gone to Barberton. It is believed that they are pre- 
paring for flight. The general opinion is that the war 
is now very near the end, but should the Boers con- 
struct strongholds in the bush, or on the veldt, or 
elsewhere, and begin a system of raids, the British 
would require further large supplies of horses." 

General Buller moved fourteen miles northwestward, 
along the Lydenburg road, and crossed Crocodile River 



466 FIGHTING FOR THE EMPIRE. 

to Badfontein. He found the Boers concentrating in 
the Crocodile Mountains, 

A force of Boers under Commandant Ehron broke 
through the British lines and captured and burned a 
supply-train at Klip River station, taking thirty-five 
prisoners. Brabant's Horse proceeded thither, recap- 
tured all the prisoners, and drove the Boers into the 
hills. 

Colonel Plumer dispersed a small commando under 
Commandant Pretorius, east of Pineaars River, cap- 
turing twenty-six Boers, a number of wagons, and a 
quantity of cattle and rifles. 

At Belfast, on this first day of September, Lord 
Roberts formally annexed the Transvaal to the British 
Empire, thus bringing an end to the war as it has been 
conducted. By such an act it became possible to treat 
the Boers as traitors rather than belligerents, and Lord 
Roberts thus gained the power to put to death all who 
were found in arms against the British government. 



THE END. 



.cut 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process^ 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: June 2003 

PreservationTechnologies 



Cranberry Township, PA 16066 



